Tuesday 29 May 2018

The Andrews Labor Government will grow tourism in Gippsland as part of a new push to strengthen and bring more business to the region.

Member for Eastern Victoria today announced the Victorian Budget 2018-19 will deliver a $2 million boost across Victoria to help regional tourism boards such as Destination Gippsland along with its six affiliate Gippsland councils grow the local economy and create jobs by attracting new visitors and new events.

The Budget provides an extra $51.1 million to attract thousands more visitors from interstate and overseas, as part of Visit Victoria’s work to grow visitor spending to $36.5 billion by 2025, and create thousands of local jobs.

The Labor Government is also building the infrastructure communities need to keep tourists coming in their droves through the $103 million Regional Tourism Infrastructure Fund.

The latest National Visitor Survey results showed domestic tourists flocked to Victoria in record numbers last year – welcoming 24.5 million people (up 11.5 per cent on the previous year).

Interstate visitors also spent more in regional Victoria, with visitation, spend and nights all posting double-digit growth.

Gippsland and Phillip Island are the place to go for fellow Australians as growth in domestic overnight stays was above the State average of 11.5 %, with 27.9% and 12.5% respectively.

Phillip Island is still the place to see for International visitors with over 8600 additional overnight stays in 2017 compared to the previous year.  Interest in exploring wider Gippsland had 40.7% more international overnight stays in 2017 compared to 2014.

Since 2014, the Andrews Labor Government has been growing Victoria’s regional visitor economy:
o total expenditure is now $9.6 billion, growth of 24.9%
o 41.6% growth in International overnight expenditure
o 24% growth in total domestic tourism expenditure
• Total number of visitors to regional Victoria is now 49.8 million, growth of 19.9% since 2014.
o 40% growth in international overnight visitors
o 26% growth in domestic overnight visitors
o 27.3% growth in Intrastate overnight visitors

The Andrews Labor Government has helped fuel this growth by working closely with Visit Victoria, Regional Tourism Boards and the wider tourism industry to bolster our major events, business events and regional events calendar and support local tourism operators.

The Labor Government has already supported more than 160 events across regional Victoria and our major new tourism campaign, A Twist At Every Turn, is driving interstate visitation and supporting local jobs and businesses.

Quotes attributable to Member for Eastern Victoria, Harriet Shing: 

“More tourists than ever before are discovering  Gippsland’s incredible beauty and diversity, and access to this additional funding will help Destination Gippsland ,operators and councils from across the region to continue this valuable growth in our visitor economy.”

“We’re backing tourism operators and providing the support that our businesses need to attract more events, more variety and to boost the local economy.”