When you think of an Australian holiday, do you think of Melbourne? This week on Leaders of Travel, I head to the city to ask Tourism Victoria whether people should.
This week I am going to take you to my home country, Australia. But not to my home city, Sydney. Instead, I’m in Melbourne, the second largest city in the country. There’s a bit of a rivalry between the two places but I’m going to put that aside for the next 20 minutes or so.
Melbourne is the capital of the state Victoria and it’s been a bit of a surprise hit on the Australian travel circuit, with a 14 per cent increase in tourism in the past year, compared to a 7 per cent national average.
It’s partly the city itself that has been popular but also the natural offerings around it like the Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island.
But when you’re talking about a country as large as Australia there are a lot of things to do and it’s impossible to fit everything in. Why would travellers give up time on the Great Barrier Reef, at Uluru or in Sydney to spend days driving around Victoria?
That’s the topic for today and to talk it through with me is Tourism Victoria’s Director of Marketing, Melanie de Souza.
So, let’s get straight to it.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the episode and, as always, you can let me know what you think on social media or on the blog.
And please, if you get a chance, do jump in itunes and leave a review there – I would love to hear your thoughts.
Next episode, I’ll be talking about India and a state that has more people living in it than most countries. That creates a lot of challenges!
Until then, my name is Michael Turtle from the travel blog Time Travel Turtle, and you’ve been listening to Leaders of Travel.
