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Victoria has had a 34 per cent increase in the number of Indian visitors over the past year to reach 49,000 - the highest level ever recorded. 

Tourism and Major Events Minister Tim Holding said the figures were released yesterday in Tourism Research Australia’s latest International Visitor Survey which also showed Victoria and Western Australia as the only states to see international visitor numbers increase.

“The Brumby Labor Government continues to support tourism in Melbourne and regional Victoria helping to boost economic activity and protect local jobs,” Mr Holding said.

“While most other parts of Australia have seen a downturn in tourism, Victoria is showing resilience in the face of the Global Financial Crisis, the devastating Black Saturday bushfires, swine flu and negative media coverage from incidents involving Indian students.

“Victoria had a one per cent increase in international visitors to reach more than 1.5 million visitors for the year ending September 2009 while New South Wales decreased by 5.7 per cent, Queensland decreased 5.5 per cent and the national average was down 2 per cent.

“For Indian visitors to Victoria to increase by more than one third in just 12 months is a fantastic achievement, taking Victoria’s overall market share of Indian visitors to Australia to 43 per cent.

The International Visitor Survey for the year ending September 2009 also showed:

Victoria’s biggest growth in visitors was from Malaysia up 40.0 per cent, India up 33.8 per cent, Hong Kong up 21.6 per cent and Singapore up 12.1 per cent;

International tourists contributed $3.8 billion to Victoria’s economy for the year, an 11.8 per cent increase on the previous year;    

International visitor nights to Victoria increased by 14.2% to 37.7 million nights; and         

Regional Victoria recorded a 14.3 per cent increase in international visitor expenditure to reach $304 million.

Mr Holding said the reason for Victoria’s strong performance was the continued focus on major events, the strong performance of the international education sector and the increase in international airlines flying direct services to Melbourne Airport.

“Direct flights by Air AsiaX from Melbourne to Malaysia had an instant impact with a big increase in visitors since the service started in late 2008. The airline has now increased the service from three times weekly to twice daily to keep up with demand,” he said.

“It is great to see more and more international tourists visiting Victoria to experience our world-class cultural and sporting events, outstanding food and wine, theatre and regional destinations.

“We expect our strong tourism performance to continue with a range of major sporting and cultural events, an increasing number of business events at the new Melbourne Convention Centre and a growing international profile and brand presence.

Tourism Research Australia’s statistics can be found at: www.tra.australia.com/international.asp?sub=0038