Victoria’s visitor economy has capped off a big year of growth with new data from Tourism Research Australia’s Domestic Tourism Statistics and International Visitor Survey showing a record $46 billion in tourism spending in the 12 months ending September 2025.
The latest data shows the growth was fuelled by a surge in international expenditure from key markets including China and India.
China remained Victoria’s top market for international expenditure, with Chinese visitors spending $3.1 billion in Victoria – up 22.4 per cent year on year. The growth aligns with the state’s new China Strategy and Visit Victoria’s ‘Every bit different’ marketing push in China.
India was also strong, with Victoria leading all states on the number of visitors, nights and expenditure ($808 million) from India – growing by 38.1 per cent compared to same period last year.
Victoria maintained its position as the nation’s second largest visitor economy with a quarter (24.3 per cent) of market share overall. Victoria also led all states across visitation, nights and expenditure in the Malaysia and Taiwan markets, with Japan becoming a top five market on total expenditure and nights.
“Visit Victoria is proud to work together with Team Victoria to harness the power of our extraordinary visitor experiences to inspire more travellers to visit Victoria,” Visit Victoria CEO Brendan McClements said.
Through the $7 million Visit Victoria Industry Partnerships Program, which sees industry partners match government investment dollar-for-dollar, we worked collaboratively with industry to target key international markets and support year-round growth.
We formed partnerships with global hotels, airlines and major travel agents to drive visitation into Melbourne and out into regional Victoria, including new airline routes with Delta Air Lines, Hong Kong Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines, as well as new deals with Trip.com, Accor, Elle Magazine India and the Visitor Economy Partnerships.
Melbourne remained the top interstate overnight leisure destination for trips (827,000), nights (three million) and expenditure ($1.4 billion) for the September 2025 quarter. Data from STR also shows the Melbourne Centre area also a hit record high number of hotel room nights sold this year, with an extra 293,000 rooms sold this calendar year to October compared to 2024.
The growth in visitation is supported by the state’s major events calendar, with 2025 highlights including record crowds at the Australian Open tennis and Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, the British & Irish Lions Tour and Rory McIlroy headlining the Australian Open golf.
In 2024-25, the business events sector continued to go from strength to strength. Melbourne Convention Bureau secured 230 events, set to inject an estimated $270 million into Victoria’s economy and attract more than 57,000 delegates to the state.
Highlights include hosting the largest incentive program in Australia’s history, with 16,000 delegates from Amway China visiting the city and regions throughout April, contributing an estimated $100 million in economic impact. The Asia Pacific Incentives & Meeting Event (AIME) 2025 was the largest ever, and Melbourne Convention Bureau supported Tourism Australia in the delivery of the signature incentives showcase, Australia Next.
Intrastate overnight travellers to Victoria spent $1.8 billion across 8.9 million nights in the September 2025 quarter, with the Mornington Peninsula leading on overnight trips (525,000), and the Murray topping the state on nights (1.2 million) and expenditure ($273 million). Overall, international spend in regional Victoria also grew, reaching an all-time high at $801 million.
“It is important to acknowledge that growth is not always experienced evenly across the State – across regions and within seasons,” McClements concluded. “Visit Victoria 2030 identifies opportunities to grow domestic tourism and increase regional dispersal – and we will continue to work with industry on activity to support these priorities in 2026.
“We wish Team Victoria a busy holiday season – with beds filled, tables occupied and experiences booked out – contributing to a prosperous time for Victoria’s visitor economy.”
