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Key points

• Day trip visitors to Melbourne were 6.7 million this year, a big increase on last year but behind the 7 million recorded pre-pandemic in 2019. 
• Overnight visitors reached 6.3 million in the year ending in June, more than double the previous year but still down on the 6.9 million of 2019.
• The average visitor spent $181 per trip up from $128 in 2019. 

Tourists are flooding back to Melbourne after the pandemic and spending more on eating out and going to events

Last financial year, 6.7 million day-trippers visited the City of Melbourne, a 65 per cent increase on the previous year but still below the 7 million who visited before the pandemic in 2018-19.

A model in a design by Ngali during Melbourne Fashion Week. Credit: Naomi Rahim

The average visitor spent $181 per day trip in 2022-23, up from $128 in 2018-19, according to data from Tourism Research Australia. Tourists mostly spent their money on hospitality, retail, transport and experiences, a category that includes theatre, galleries, arts festivals and sporting events.

“The spend … has been really surprising given the current economic environments but very consistent with what we’re hearing anecdotally from traders as well,” Lord Mayor Sally Capp said.

The 40 per cent rise in spending was well ahead of inflation, which has increased by 9.63 per cent over three years based on data for Melbourne. Recent increased consumer spending is also behind the shortened odds of the Reserve Bank lifting the official interest rate again on Melbourne Cup Day.

Capp said the city’s focus on events had helped boost tourism numbers and spending: Melbourne Fashion Week finished on Sunday and the Melbourne Cup carnival kicks off this week.

“We’ve seen with Melbourne Fashion Week, the way people were making it into an experience in terms of lunch or dinner prior or after, people staying in hotels to make the most of the later runways [and] doing retail,” she said. “We’re already seeing people around town for the races – because of Caulfield Cup and the Cox Plate and all those sorts of events – [and] even the trainers and the owners and the connections coming into town.”

About 150,000 people attended Melbourne Fashion Week, and Capp said there were multiple sellout events.

A swath of new hotels in Melbourne have also benefited from the tourism boost, as overnight visitors reached 6.3 million over the past financial year, more than double the previous year but still down on the 6.9 million of 2019.

“We’re hearing from hotels that they’ve been able to keep their room rates the same as their rates of occupancy increase,” Capp said. “We hear from restaurants that people are definitely splurging on the experience.”

Capp said Melbourne’s top-end restaurants were booked out but some cafes, which relied more on lunchtime trade, were struggling and the city was still in a state of transition.

“Events are pivotal and underpin our state and our city visitation and tourism enormously,” she said.

Hotel Pullman Melbourne on the Park hosted an afternoon tea for Melbourne Fashion Week featuring a runway by Indigenous designer Ngali.

Models showcase designs by Paul McCann during the Melbourne Fashion Week closing runway on Sunday.Credit: Liana Hardy

General manager Stephan Leroy said the hotel had had a “bit of a pick-up” for Melbourne Fashion Week, but business had been impacted by the number of new hotels that have opened in the past year.

“There’s been a 25 per cent increase on the number of [hotel] rooms compared to pre-COVID, so it has been a bit diluted,” he said. “That’s why we do events, to provide visibility to the hotel.”

Leroy said Melbourne’s events schedule was crucial for tourism.

“It’s very important for us to actually have events like this to stimulate demand in the city,” he said. “Especially from interstate because we haven’t seen the international customer come back.”

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