Tourism

  • 80,000 jobs were created in Victorian tourism over the two terms of the Kennett Government.
  • Tourism increased from 3.6% to 7.4% of Gross State Product, and was worth an estimated $9.4 billion to Victoria in 1999.

International:

  • The number of international visitors to Victoria grew by 49%, from 681,088 in 1992 to 1,015,070 in 1998.

Domestic:

  • Victoria recorded 17,879,000 domestic overnight trips for the year ending December 1998 and held a 24% market share of all domestic overnight trips.
  • Victoria had the second highest market share of all domestic overnight trips.
  • Victoria held a 20% market share of interstate overnight trips and a 16% market share of interstate nights.
  • Total expenditure by domestic visitors in Victoria reached $6.026 billion for the year ending December 1998.

Advertising awareness:

  • Prior to the You’ll love every piece of Victoria campaign, the awareness of Victorian tourism advertising by consumers was minimal. After June 1994 it increased by 4% nationally and in NSW, by 12% in Queensland and by 7% in South Australia.

Regulation Reform:

  • A regulatory review of the tourism industry resulted in reduced regulation including:
    • removing red tape from tourism transport operators;
    • reducing planning procedures for bed and breakfast businesses sleeping up to six people; and
    • introducing a new cheap limited liquor licence for very small businesses.

REGIONAL TOURISM

Regional Cooperative Marketing Programme:

  • In 1993, the marketing of regional tourism was restructured with the establishment of 13 product regions, based on geographic and product strengths. From 1993-94, approximately $8 million had been directed through the Regional Cooperative Marketing Programme.

Statewide Tourist Signing Programme:

  • The Statewide Tourist Signing Programme was funded by a $3.45 million Community Support Fund grant and local contributions, and introduced an integrated network of tourism signs across the state.

Events:

  • Victoria’s annual Hallmark events were:
    • Australian Open;
    • AFL Grand Final Week,
    • Qantas Australian Formula One Grand Prix,
    • Qantas Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix,
    • Spring Racing Carnival,
    • Melbourne Festival,
    • Melbourne Food and Wine Festival,
    • Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show,
    • Melbourne International Comedy Festival,
    • Rip Curl Pro Surfing  and Quit Women’s Classic, and 
    • Philips Mobile Phone Aerial World Cup.
    • In addition, the Avalon Airshow which was held biennially and special events such as the World Cup Soccer Qualifier and the Bledisloe Cups held at the MCG added to Victoria’s major events reputation.
    • In 1997 alone the major tourism events boosted the Victorian economy by more than $650 million.

Marketing:

  • The Kennett Government increased the international advertising budget by $4.5 million per annum in 1994-95. It also increased the domestic advertising budget by $4.5 million per annum in 1995-96.
  • In the 1999/2000 State budget, additional funding was announced comprising:
    • an extra $2 million over 2 years for increased pre-Olympics marketing
    • an extra $3.8 million in 1999/2000 and $3.6 million in 2000/2001 to tourism online project

Tourism On-Line strategy:

  • Additional funding of $7.4M was allocated be used to implement a five-part strategy to encourage all Victorian tourism operators to go online by 2002. It was estimated that at the time, less than 5% of Victorian tourism operators were online.

Wineries tourism:

  • One of Victoria’s key tourism product strengths was its food and wine sector. The Kennett Government, through the Victorian Wineries Tourism Council, had intensely marketed this sector. Research into the scope of wineries tourism revealed:
    • sales by Victorian wineries were up 33% during the study period and were worth
      $161.8 million to the Victorian economy.
    • the number of visits made to Victorian wineries has increased by 23% since the last study in 1995;
    • there were 2.35 million visits to Victorian wineries between March 1997 and Feb 1998; and
    • Combined, food and wine tourism in Victoria was worth $682 million to the State.

Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions:

  • One of the fastest growing sectors of the tourism industry was the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) sector. The sector was worth approximately $3 billion annually to the national economy.
  • In 1998, the MICE sector pumped $411M into the Victorian economy.
  • The Melbourne Convention and Marketing Bureau forecast that 1.1 million room nights would be generated by the MICE market in Melbourne between 2000-2006.

Alpine marketing:

  • Victoria’s alpine country was a major tourism asset and the ski industry was worth $211 million to Victoria. Tourism Victoria and the alpine industry, including the former Alpine Resorts Commission invested approximately $800,000 per year from 1993 in highlighting the High Country in summer as well as winter.

Cruise ship strategy:

  • It was estimated that each cruise ship visit generated approximately $1 million to the Victorian economy.

Information/ Services

Victorian and Australian Tourism Awards:

  • From 1992, Victoria’s performance in the Australian Tourism Awards had risen steadily. In 1992, Victorian operators took out only four national awards. This peaked at eight national awards in 1996 and seven national awards in both 1997 and 1998.
  • In the three years to 1999 Victoria won more national tourism awards than any other State.

TOURISM INFRASTRUCTURE

International flights secured:

  • In 1998, in the face of the Asian economic crisis, international passenger arrivals to Melbourne showed 2% growth compared with a drop of 10% for New South Wales, while Queensland was down 8%and Tasmania down 3%. 

Community Support Fund:

  • The Community Support Fund was been a major success for tourism in Victoria and more than $39.5 million worth of tourism projects had been funded since the fund’s inception in 1993.