Photo: Expotrade

Acting Minister for Tourism and Major Events Tim Pallas hailed the latest Tourism Research Australia results, which show more than 15,000 tourism-related jobs have been created since 2015/16.

Victoria’s tourism sector generated around 214,500 jobs last financial year – up 7.6 per cent from the previous year – and now makes up almost seven per cent of the state’s total employment.

The data shows Victoria’s visitor numbers – and the amount they are spending – is now growing faster than any other state in Australia.

Tourism is worth more to Victoria’s economy than ever before, with visitors delivering $24.8 billion to local businesses across the state – a jump of $2 billion in Gross State Product from 2015/16.

Today’s promising results compliment the latest National and International Visitor Surveys, which show a record number of domestic visitors travelling to Victoria and more overseas visitors choosing to spend their time and valuable tourism dollars in our regions.

The Andrews Labor Government has helped fuel this growth by backing local tourism operators and attracting the major events that make Victoria the sporting and cultural capital of the country.

This includes a raft of major theatre productions announced recently that will come exclusively to Victoria – including Come From Away and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

These impressive results come off the back of the Labor Government delivering more than 100 events across regional Victoria and rolling out major new tourism campaigns such as Wander Victoria and A Twist At Every Turn.

The Labor Government will continue to work with Visit Victoria to attract even more visitors and build the infrastructure our local operators need to grow.