25 February 2009


Home of Australian Open to get $5 million facelift

The home of the Australian Tennis Open, Melbourne Park will undergo a major stadium redevelopment Premier John Brumby announced recently.

The State Government will invest $5 million to upgrade Melbourne Park in a step to help secure the Grand Slam of the Asia/Pacific until 2036.

The proposed redevelopment will include a new town square in the centre of Melbourne Park, improved players facilities, more practice courts, an international broadcast centre and better media facilities to showcase Melbourne to the world. 

A roof for Margaret Court Arena and a new headquarters for Tennis Australia have also been proposed.

The Australian Open makes a significant contribution to Victoria’s economy.

In 2009 the event generated around 1,000 equivalent full time jobs, injecting $164 million into the State and raised the tourism profile of Melbourne with almost 240 million people watching worldwide.

“Now is the time to take a look at how we can refresh and improve this terrific precinct to ensure it remains a world-class facility,” Mr Brumby said.

Melbourne Park is part of the Melbourne and Olympic Parks Precinct, which hosts around 600 events and attracts more than two million people per annum. 

Melbourne to host biggest medical conference

Melbourne’s new Convention Centre has won the right to host its biggest medical business event ever, the World Diabetes Congress in 2013. 

The Congress is expected to attract more than 12,500 international researchers, medical practitioners and government policy experts from 160 different countries.

The event is estimated to inject between $63 million and $82 million into the state’s economy. 

Business events are the Victorian tourism industry’s highest yielding sector.  On average, a business delegate’s spending exceeds that of a leisure tourist by 500 per cent.

International conventions showcase Melbourne on a grand scale and delegates often include travel to regional Victoria in their itinerary. 

The Convention Centre, which opens later this year, will be fully integrated with the existing Melbourne Exhibition Centre and will become Australia’s most flexible convention and exhibition facility. 

Melbourne Airport busier than ever

Record numbers of passengers travelled through Melbourne Airport to both domestic and international destinations late last year. 

A total of 6.4 million travellers passed through the airport in the December quarter, up more than 234,000 on the previous quarter. 

Other Australian capital city airports had falls in passenger numbers.

Increases in international traffic (2%) and domestic travel (4%) were driven by events such as the Spring Racing Carnival and the Boxing Day Test. 

Melbourne Airport CEO Chris Woodruff said the growth was boosted by increased competition in the aviation market and more seating.

Despite expectations that growth will slow in the first quarter of 2009, Victoria will be helped by events such as the Australian formula one Grand Prix, the Australian Open tennis and new daily services by Middle East carriers Etihad and Emirates.

Democracy in the mountains

The Victorian Government launched an innovative new project website which allows the community to share their vision for Victoria’s Alpine National Parks.

The new website called WePlan Alpine incorporates innovative communications applications such as wikis, blogs and interactive web-based mapping in the development of the next management plan for the National Heritage Listed Alpine Country.

The blog will enable anyone who is interested in the parks to contribute their ideas and opinions to the draft plan in mid-2009.

The project website allows the public to get involved in the drafting of a jurisdiction’s policy.

The management plan aims to address challenges such as climate change, fire, pests and water availability faced by the Alpine, Baw Baw, Mount Buffalo, Errinundra and Snowy River national parks as well as the Avon Wilderness Park, Walhalla and adjacent historic parks – an area totalling over 860,000 hectares.

The WePlan Alpine website can be accessed at weplan.parks.vic.gov.au

Backpacker boomerangs back to Victoria

Dutch backpacker and Melbourne CBD shooting victim Paul De Waard returned to Melbourne recently to continue his Victorian holiday. 

Mr De Waard will tour Melbourne’s sights and regional Victoria thanks to Tourism Victoria and the Backpacker Operators Alliance of Victoria (BOAV). 

Members of the Victorian backpacker community presented Paul with a Victorian travel package donated by the industry to commemorate his bravery. 

 “Backpacker operators in Melbourne were shocked by what happen to Paul, but they were also inspired by his positive spirit,” said chair of BOAV David Fitzpatrick.

“We pooled our resources to ensure his second visit to Victoria was a pleasurable one.”

Mr De Waard and the late Mr Brendan Keilar, went to the aid of Ms Kaera Douglas when she was being attacked by Christopher Hudson. 

Mr De Waard was shot in the chest and abdomen.  He still has a bullet in his pelvis.

Businesses encouraged to sign up for earth hour

Victorian tourism businesses are encouraged to participate in 2009 Earth Hour. 

On Saturday 28 March from 8.30pm-9.30pm, businesses and households around the world will be switching off their lights and appliances for one hour – Earth Hour.   making a strong and unified statement against climate change.

Hotels and restaurants will play a big role in Earth Hour’s success this year, and business can use a Earth Hour Information Kit which include ideas on how they can leverage this event to secure publicity opportunities and gain exposure in the lead up to and on the big night.

Last year, many hotels and restaurants used Earth Hour as a theme for holding special events.

In 2009 Earth Hour the aim is to reach one billion people in over 1,000 cities worldwide. 

For more information on this event, please log on to earthhour.org