Between the 17 trips, 2,345 delegates will be travelling from China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and India. Combined the groups are expected to inject $9.6 million into the Victorian economy and generate 4,033 room nights.
“It’s really pleasing to see Chinese incentive groups returning to Melbourne and we expect this to really ramp up now that Australia will once again join China’s list of Approved Destination Status (ADS) nations,” said MCB’s chief executive Julia Swanson.
“Aviation capacity has already expanded with seven out of eight mainland China carriers operating to Melbourne resumed.
“MCB’s efforts to grow this market back to its full potential has been rewarded with 19 per cent of wins in this segment to date hailing from China,” she said.
Groups will visit destinations in regional Victoria too, including wine region the Yarra Valley, the Mornington Peninsula, the Great Ocean Road, the goldfields at Ballarat and Phillip Island to see the iconic nightly penguin parade.
Melbourne’s offering has received a huge boost in terms of hotels in the last few years – 21 new hotels with a total of 4,889 rooms have entered the market in the last four years, increasing the city’s accommodation capacity by 23 per cent to nearly 26,500 rooms. With major international luxury brands like The Ritz-Carlton and W Melbourne opening in the city, Melbourne now has the largest number of hotel rooms in Australia.
