Visit Victoria strengthens presence in the India market

Visit Victoria aims to further strengthen its presence in the India market. Carmen Smith, Head of International Markets, Visit Victoria, recently visited India to underline the importance of the growing Indian market. She represented Visit Victoria as part of a large delegation that also comprised of Melbourne Airport and InvestVictoria, at the CAPA conference with the primary objective of securing new direct aviation services into Melbourne. Highlighting the rise in demand and also the increase in commitment of the tourism body towards this country, she addressed various stakeholders and announced the marketing plans for the year.

“India is a strong market for the State of Victoria. While Melbourne is the most popular city for Indians and has the largest diaspora of Indians in the country, the number of visitors we see go far beyond the regular VFR traffic. Victoria holds the highest market share of Indian spend visitors and nights in the country and these numbers are growing year on year. In terms of outbound travellers from Australia as well, the numbers have grown by an average of 10 percent y-o- y, and today India is the 5th most popular destination for Australian travellers.” said Carmen Smith while highlighting the relationship shared by India and State of Victoria. “The year 2020 promises to be the most promising so far in terms on Australia-India traffic due to the T20 Cricket world Cup where for the first time in its history the ICC World T20 will feature two stand-alone events – the men’s (18 th Oct – 15 th Nov2020) and women’s tournaments (21 st Feb –8 th Mar2020) will be scheduled for different times of the year – both at the prestigious MCG. Melbourne also hosts the four largest annual sporting events in Australia: Australian Open Tennis, AFL Grand Final Week, Australian Formula One Grand Prix and the Spring Racing Carnival. In addition, the award winning theatrical production – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will open exclusively in Melbourne from January 2019.”, she continued.

The State of Victoria will continue to woo Indian visitors as a leisure destination with its finest food and wine culture, sports events, arts, nature and wildlife. Indians are amongst the top spenders in the State of Victoria. For the year ended September 2018, 165,500 Indians visited the State of Victoria and Melbourne City. India is one of the largest inbound markets for Victoria and showcases itself as one of the fastest growing markets for the region. India has seen a year on year increase of 22.5 percent and Indian visitors make for more than half of the visitors (51 percent) to Victoria during the period. By 2020, India is expected to become the second largest market in overnight visitor expenditure in Melbourne. Various regions of Victoria such as Yarra Valley, Phillip Island, Great Ocean Road, Mornington Peninsula and Melbourne city have increasingly gained popularity among the Indian travellers.