Melbourne
Lord Mayor, Sally Capp reinforced the value of the city’s tourism sector to the
Victorian economy, when addressing senior accommodation hotel industry leaders
at the Tourism Accommodation Australia (Victoria) Industry Leaders’ Lunch at
Melbourne’s Hotel Windsor recently.
When
doing so she cautioned that stakeholders must be proactive, at a time of
exponential growth, expressing that Melbourne’s tourism sector is currently
under appreciated, undervalued, under invested and under resourced, noting,
however, her optimism regarding future growth projections.
The
Lord Mayor stressed the City of Melbourne’s economic importance to the state
and national economies, reflecting that its $100b contribution makes up twenty
five per cent of the Victorian economy and seven per cent of the national
economy. In doing so, she noted that Melbourne is Australia’s number one
overnight visitor destination, attracting 6.9m visitors annually, with related
spending of $4.8b, a figure greater than any other state or territory. Other
positive growth trends included, an increase in spending by New South Wales
visitors ($1.9b – up 17 per cent year on year) and increased annual
international visitor arrivals (2m – up 5 per cent).
She
acknowledged a forthcoming trading environment of unprecedented competition for
Melbourne’s hotel industry, with as many as 14,829 hotel rooms in various
stages of planning, approval or construction across the city. The Lord Mayor
also appreciated the importance of maintaining a strong new business pipeline
to fill these hotels and to ensure investor confidence in the Melbourne market
and trading conditions is maintained.
To
ensure strong growth in visitor arrivals to fill these rooms, the Lord Mayor
emphasised the continued need for key industry stakeholders to collaborate
effectively to secure major and business events. She reflected that Melbourne’s
ability to do so is underpinned by the quality of its infrastructure; depth of
offer as a “to do or experience, rather than to see city;” visitors being able
to enjoy our city and its unique personality, and the effectiveness with which
we amplify this, with activities like city shopping, the Queen Victoria Market
redevelopment, activations in Federation Square and continued leveraging of the
Southgate, Southbank and Docklands precincts critical.
The
Lord Mayor referenced the symbiotic relationship that exists between retail and
hospitality related spending, noting that $1.6m in retail and $1.7m in
hospitality related spending occurs in the city, every day. She also stressed
the importance of live music as a differentiator for Melbourne, noting that
visitors spend more on live performances in our city, than any other city in
the world. Given this trend, she encouraged hoteliers to consider incorporating
live music into their hospitality offer.
She
acknowledged frustrations that come with navigating around key infrastructure
projects currently under development, that are critical to cope with the scale
of growth Melbourne is experiencing, as one of the world’s top five fastest
growing destinations and one whose population will surpass that of Sydney,
within eight years.
The
Lord Mayor also reflected on the correlation between population density and the
city’s vibrancy, noting getting the balance right between commercial and
residential development within the city is critical to continuing to develop an
environment that is perceived as safe and welcoming and able to enhance visitor
experiences, particularly during infrastructure construction periods.
When
reflecting on challenges facing the city, the Lord Mayor expressed pride in how
measures to ensure public and pedestrian safety have been tastefully
incorporated into Melbourne’s existing streetscape. She also highlighted a
housing crisis, given a lack of public housing within the city as a key
impediment to individuals being able to be happy, healthy and reach their full
potential within the city, nominating that this issue will be a key priority
for the City of Melbourne and other relevant agencies in 2020.