Visit Victoria

We look forward to joining Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC), Felicia Mariani (GAICD) and all participants in Victoria's visitor economy at the VTIC 2025 Vision Summit on 27 February. Get your tickets today: https://lnkd.in/gFsvTkiH Brendan McClements, Shae Keenan

The Age says landing a National Football League (NFL) regular season game “is probably the biggest sporting coup a city can pull off, outside a FIFA World Cup or an Olympics” and the overwhelmingly positive reaction from around the world shows the truth in these words. It’s going to be a blast. But seeing this as purely through a sporting or major events lens, grossly understate the opportunity this deal presents for Victoria and the power of the partners that have been recruited onto Team Victoria. Not only will the game attract tens of thousands of visitors for the game and its activities it will allow us to showcase Melbourne and our regions to the US and the world leading up to 2026 and beyond. The US remains one of the most valuable source markets for Australia’s Visitor Economy. It’s a high yielding market at around $1800 spend per visitor that is often prepared to get outside the city and explore our regional areas. For Victoria, in the year ending Sept 2024, around 200k visitors from the US spent $358m in our State. While the spend is a little under where we were in 2019 (7 per cent), the capacity to the US from Melbourne is only at 74 per cent of these levels. With the recently announced arrival of Delta Air Lines into #Melbourne through our partnership with Melbourne Airport helping to close the capacity gap, the agreement we’ve now locked with the National Football League (NFL) gives Melbourne a unique, creative and powerful way to stand out as a destination be it for the National Football League (NFL) game itself or for all the breadth and diversity our State offers. In a destination marketing sense we’ll now get to work up and down the “funnel” to help drive growth in the Visitor Economy from this market year round, not just at game time. No way can we achieve this by ourselves. To make this happen, it going to take partnerships. In the last 10 days we’ve been able to recruit powerful global businesses like Delta Air Lines and the National Football League (NFL) to join Team Victoria along side Melbourne Airport and the Melbourne Cricket Ground and this is the sort of firepower we need the help get Victoria’s Visitor Economy engine roaring. Visit Victoria National Football League (NFL) Delta Air Lines Melbourne Cricket Ground Peter O'Reilly Matthew Shapiro Brett Gosper Tom Kiley Dexter Tate Dawn Aponte Tanya Gallina Kelly Dickson Shae Keenan Ben Knighton Holly Little Kieran Jones Luci Bryce Felicia Mariani (GAICD) Paul Guerra Scott Chapman AM Lorie Argus Jim Parashos Luke Murphy Nigel Aldons

The National Football League (NFL) is coming to Melbourne!   Watch the moment Victoria secured a historic multi-year deal to bring a Regular Season NFL game to the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2026. Andrew Penn Sav Rocca Brendan McClements Kelly Dickson Shae Keenan Holly Little Kieran Jones Annie Kearney Cassandra Wallace

Only in Melbourne can one million people share in the excitement of the Australian Open Grand Slam. Only in Melbourne can 450,000 people feel the roar of the engines at the Formula 1 Grand Prix. Only in Melbourne can 373,000 cricket lovers unite at the Boxing Day Test. And now, only in Melbourne can 100,000 people go to the first National Football League (NFL) Regular Season game ever held in Australia! The Victorian Government, through Visit Victoria, is delighted to work with the National Football League (NFL) to secure an historic multi-year deal which means the biggest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere – the Melbourne Cricket Ground – will host a Regular Season NFL game in 2026. The benefits of this deal are enormous for our visitor economy, with Victoria to be beamed into millions of lounge rooms worldwide, attracting even more visitors to enjoy the best our state has to offer. It follows another major win for our visitor economy, with Visit Victoria partnering with Melbourne Airport to bring Delta Air Lines – one of the world’s biggest airlines – to Melbourne. From December, the airline will start three new direct flights between Melbourne and LA each week which will see an extra 86,000 seats available to potential visitors. The partnership is the first deal under the new Industry Partnership Program (IPP), which was announced in the Victorian Government’s Economic Growth Statement. A huge week for Victoria's visitor economy. Thank you to both the NFL and MCC teams for all the work we’ve done together. Andrew Penn, Brendan McClements, Kelly Dickson, Shae Keenan, Holly Little Peter O'Reilly Gerrit Meier Matthew Shapiro Brett Gosper Dawn Aponte Nick Pappas, CSFM Tom Kiley Dexter Tate Charlotte Offord Katie Keenan Christina Genda Greta (Rosenblum) Manelis Evan Ray Tanya Gallina

More than 120,000 spectators got an up-close and personal glimpse of the world’s best cyclists riding at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, which took place in Geelong, the Bellarine and Surf Coast over the weekend. The event, which receives the highest possible sanctioning from the world governing body Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), also showcased the region to millions of people globally who tuned into the broadcast. Owned and delivered by Visit Victoria, the event also offered cyclists of all ages and abilities the opportunity to ride on the same course as their elite cycling heroes through the People’s Ride & the Family Ride.

A new direct service from Los Angeles will bring thousands more North American tourists to Melbourne, with Delta Air Lines set to offer three direct flights from December this year thanks to a partnership with Melbourne Airport and Visit Victoria. The deal will mean an extra 86,000 seats between Victoria and the United States will be available to travellers on one of the world’s biggest airlines, which will have a positive flow on for all participants in the Victorian visitor economy. The USA is the state’s fourth largest international market for tourists, attracting more than 200,000 people in the year ending September 2024 – who spent about $358 million while they were in the state.

Was great to work with your team on this Lorie. Jim Parashos Andrew Lund. A great result for Team Victoria.

One of the world’s biggest sporting events, the Rugby World Cup, is coming to Melbourne in 2027. The Rugby World Cup will take place in Australia from 1 October to 13 November 2027, with more than 140,000 visitors expected to travel to Australia for the tournament – in a major boost for Victoria’s visitor economy. While the match schedule will not be finalised for some time, the gaps between games will encourage visitors to explore regional Victoria while they’re here, while the major matches will secure strong media coverage into key international markets like the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Europe and Japan. The Rugby World Cup is the latest addition to a fantastic pipeline of major events Victoria is hosting, including the British and Irish Lions Tour, the Formula 1 Grand Prix and the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the NGV.

Congratulations to Craig Tiley and the team at #tennisaustralia for delivering a record breaking and outstanding Australian Open. TA’s world class creativity and delivery skills once again showcased Melbourne’s unique ability to deliver extraordinary experiences to local and global consumers built around the best events in the world. When these skill are are combined with the multi-billion dollar investment that’s been made in the extraordinary and publicly owned Melbourne and Olympic Park precinct and the committment, planning and skills across the entire State to deliver the security, transport and every other service that is needed to help more than 1m spectators enjoy the AO, then the results speak for themselves The most wonderful of all Grand Slams and one of the greatest event experiences on earth. From our perspective it’s a pleasure for the team at #VisitVictoria to work Tennis Australia to reinforce to the world just why Melbourne is Australia’s favourite city for visitors (thanks Jayne Hrdlicka for the shout out). Congratulations also to John Harnden AM and the team at #MOPT for the success in establishing perhaps the most important and successful sporting event precinct in the world. Shae Keenan Kelly Dickson John Harnden AM Sam Eustice Craig Tiley Jayne Hrdlicka Roddy Campbell #visitvictoria #tennisaustralia #melbourneandolympicpark Patrick Flannigan AM

The Pro Kabaddi League Melbourne Raid showcased the best of Victoria to the world – with more than 30 million people expected to have viewed this world-class spectacle both here and in India, and another 4,000 patrons packing an ‘in kabaddi mode’ John Cain Arena. Broadcasting to such a large audience for both the Boxing Day Test and the Pro Kabaddi League Melbourne Raid has delivered huge promotional value for Victoria, showcasing our credentials as a sporting capital and tourism destination to hundreds of millions across India and the region.