We recently convened a roundtable hosted by Jim McCaul (City of Melbourne – Senior Project Coordinator) to gather our members’ thoughts on Melbourne’s destination marketing plan.
Tourism is a driver of Melbourne’s economy and one of the cornerstones of our diverse and vibrant global city. Our world-class cultural, retail and hospitality offering attracts visitors from all over the world and is a major reason companies continue to invest in Melbourne. At the same time, our sporting and event venues provide memorable experiences and unparalleled levels of service to Melburnians and visitors.
We all know that the last few years have been particularly tough for our tourism industry. But with the return of international travellers and Australians continuing to explore their own backyard, our visitor economy has a brighter outlook than at any time over the past two years. As the sector recovers, there will be opportunities to adapt, change and grow back stronger.
Recognising this, the City of Melbourne is developing a Destination Management Plan (Tourism Master Plan) to ensure they have the right levers in place to guarantee the sustainable growth and viability of our city’s visitor economy. The five-year plan will create a vision for the future of Melbourne’s visitor economy and set out a pathway to address the challenges and opportunities ahead. The plan will provide clear actions and options for the City of Melbourne/Sector to enhance our tourism offering and experience.
The plan will be developed over the next 10 months in consultation with state agencies, the local tourism industry and relevant stakeholder groups and will include comprehensive research and analysis.
It was great to have our voices heard. Thank you to Micro Labs for hosting us and to the City of Melbourne for taking the time to engage with us.
