The Andrews Labor Government has launched a strategy to drive its bold plans to grow Victoria’s visitor economy.

Minister for Tourism and Major Events John Eren today spoke at the Victorian Tourism Conference in Bendigo, where he outlined plans to increase visitor spending to $36.5 billion by 2025 and increase employment in the sector to 320,700 jobs.

Victoria’s visitor economy is a key pillar of our prosperity, and the Victorian Visitor Economy Strategy will ensure the sector grows.

It maps out a clear direction for Visit Victoria, the state’s new world-leading entity responsible for ensuring we remain the national leader for tourism and major events, focusing on nine key areas:

• More private sector investment
• Building on the potential of regional and rural campaigns
• Maximising the benefits of events
• Improved branding and marketing
• Improved experiences for visitors from Asia
• Better tourism infrastructure
• Improved access into and around Victoria
• A skilled and capable sector
• More effective coordination

We want more visitors to Victoria – and we want them staying longer. It’s valuable opportunities for businesses big and small.

We’ll focus on facilitating investment and Brand Victoria, which is unifying our message to sell Victoria’s economic strengths, cultural diversity and world class events.

The Labor Government has already provided $38 million for Visit Victoria campaigns, including Wander Victoria, which highlights the magic of regional Victoria to Melburnians. We’ve added $80 million to continue to grow our major events calendar, and established a $20 million Regional Events Fund.

The Strategy is available at http://economicdevelopment.vic.gov.au/what-we-do/events-and-tourism

Quotes attributable to Minister for Tourism and Major Events John Eren

“The visitor economy is one of Victoria’s great strengths. We do it so well, but we want to get better because it means jobs and economic growth.”

“The Victorian Visitor Economy Strategy is our blueprint to grow the sector over the next decade. We’ve got ambitious goals, and this is how we achieve them.”

“The experience we offer our visitors is the reason we’ve continued to thrive in a challenging economic environment, but we’ll never be complacent.”