Visitor stats provide inkling of bright times ahead

ALMOST two million tourist trips were made to the City of Greater Bendigo last year, data from Tourism Research Australia’s Domestic Tourism Statistics and International Visitor Survey has revealed.

This was made up of 879,000 domestic overnight trips and 1.07 million domestic day trips, as well as 14,000 international tourists who visited during their stay in Australia.

Domestic travellers spent a total of $640 million while in Bendigo, consisting of $438 million from domestic overnight visitors and $202 million from domestic daytrip equivalents.

Visitor spending in Victoria in total hit a record high in 2025, climbing to $46.7 billion.International visitors spent seven per cent more, year on year, hitting $9.7 billion, including $840 million in regional areas – up 30 per cent.

China remains Victoria’s top market with visiting Chinese tourists spending $3.2 billion – up 19.7 per cent.

The growth has been attributed to the state’s new China Strategy and Visit Victoria’s Every Bit Different marketing push.

Melbourne also unsurprisingly kept its title as the top destination for overnight interstate leisure travellers, with 3.5 million visitors staying a total of 13 million nights in the city and spending just under $6 billion.

Visit Victoria CEO Brendan McClements said the Every Bit Different campaign has allowed the opportunity to showcase the best of Victoria both locally and internationally.

“More visitors mean more opportunities for local businesses, with operators and venues across Victoria connecting with global networks and hotels seeing record numbers,” he said.