Tourism spending in regional Victoria eclipses Melbourne for the first time

Tourism spending in regional Victoria has eclipsed Melbourne’s for the first time but struggling operators say already wary travellers are being spooked by this week’s lockdown in Brisbane.

The latest state government figures show that overall tourism spending was down 60 per cent across Victoria in the year to December, with holidaymakers spending $6.8 billion in the regions, compared with $6.2 billion in Melbourne.

After months in lockdown, Victorians craved the open air.

More than twice as many visitors flocked to regional Victoria than to Melbourne during this time.

“It’s the first time in my living memory that this has happened,” Victorian Tourism Industry Council chief executive Felicia Mariani said.

“We were in lockdown until early October and there was a lot of pent-up demand, particularly from people in Greater Melbourne who wanted to get out and travel to regional Victoria,” Ms Mariani said.

Tourism North East chief executive Bess Nolan-Cook said regional Victoria had lured city dwellers who were seeking to get back out into the outdoors after being in lockdown for much of 2020.

“Without a doubt people living in an urban environment have craved big nature: big skies, big scenery and a sense of space,” she said.

New research from the Tourism & Transport Forum Australia shows that Victorians have the lowest levels of confidence among Australians when it comes to travelling interstate, with 44 per cent of those surveyed saying they felt uneasy about crossing borders.

However, about one in four Victorians said they intended to travel regionally over the Easter break – the highest proportion in the country.

COVID-19 outbreaks and subsequent lockdowns such as that in Victoria in February and in Brisbane this week have made would-be travellers less willing to cross state borders, dashing the hopes of tourism operators who had been hoping that interstate tourism would offset the loss of international visitors.

Victorian Tourism Industry Council chief Felicia Mariani says the sector needs government help.

“The snap border [closures] and lockdowns mean everyone is paranoid about getting stuck,” Mrs Mariani said.

Kristyn Slattery, the chair of the Bendigo Motels Association, said 12 groups of travellers had cancelled their bookings at her motel since Brisbane’s lockdown. Many of these cancellations were Victorians planning to reunite with Queensland relatives.

“People are worried about planning a holiday and then having it ripped out from beneath them,” the owner of the Julia-Anna Inn said.

Tourism & Transport Forum chief executive Margy Osmond said consumers were booking their holidays at the very last minute in the hope of avoiding border closures. She had also noticed a resurgence in the road trip which has, she said, been a “big holiday trend”.

Victorians enjoying the sites and tourist towns of their own state after months of tough lockdown restrictions.Credit:Justin McManus

Tourism in capital cities across Australia was hit harder by the pandemic than regional areas, with overnight trips falling by 52 per cent, according to Tourism Research Australia.

While some operators have struggled to attract as many interstate visitors as they would have liked, Melburnians have flocked to regional destinations.

Ms Nolan-Cook said some accommodation providers were reporting booked out weekends until the middle of the year after a busy summer.

“Certainly over the last month it’s felt like it’s been bustling,” she said.

Ms Nolan-Cook said border closures were influencing travel decisions, with some Melburnians reluctant to risk having to isolate upon returning.

“But separate to that people have also really re-evaluated the idea of exploring their own backyard.”

Acting Victorian Tourism Minister Jaala Pulford said the recent data on tourism spending captured an unusual time when Melburnians were coming out of restrictions.

“What happened very shortly after that reporting period is that Melbourne started its significant recovery,” she said.

She noted the city’s hosting of the Australian Open, the reopening of the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the return of AFL matches with fans in the stadium.

“The global pandemic has had a significant impact on our enviable visitor economy,” Ms Pulford said.

The state government has been encouraging Victorians to travel locally through its travel voucher scheme, which has funded 160,000 regional travel vouchers worth $200 each with the first round kicking off on December 11.

The scheme was recently expanded to include 40,000 Melbourne travel vouchers, which were snapped up within four minutes.

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