Mr Sossi will visit India this month, China in May and September, and Perth in June as part of state and federal trade missions.

The trips will be paid for by the Great Southern Touring Route, a cross regional marketing partnership jointly promoting a touring route connecting Geelong, Warrnambool, Ballarat and the Grampians.

However, Ballarat City Council’s membership to the organisation costs $37,500 annually.

Mr Sossi said the partnership had been the foundation of Ballarat’s international tourism activity for the past 20 years.

“Due to the cost and complexities of the wholesale international tourism market, Ballarat, as a destination is only marketed internationally through its membership of the Great Southern Touring Route,” Mr Sossi said. He said the number of international overnight visitors to Ballarat for the year ending September 2011 was 21,100, up 26.4 per cent on 2010/11.

International day trip visitors also rose 4.8 per cent to 144,000.

“The importance of the China market to Ballarat is also significant in that it is by far the largest international market for Ballarat and Sovereign Hill.”