Victorian Liberal leader Matthew Guy visited Sovereign Hill on Thursday to announce the funding promise which will see construction of the Gold Pavilion which will include a new entrance to the park, new classrooms and showcase the stories of Sovereign Hill and local history.

Mr Guy said the second stage of the attraction's master plan would not just bring a huge amount of investment to Ballarat but more local jobs to Sovereign Hill and the city.

"It's so important governments invest in our major tourism infrastructure right around Victoria. This $27m investment in Sovereign Hill will go a long way to regenerate the local Ballarat economy and more importantly get Sovereign Hill to the next stage incarnation of itself as one of Victoria's greatest tourist attractions," he said.

Mr Guy said the strength of Sovereign Hill, as one of Ballarat's biggest employers, would help drive the local and district economies forward.

"Investment in Sovereign Hill will have a huge return on investment to the whole Ballarat economy, to the Victorian economy, to our tourism," he said.

Sovereign Hill chief executive Sara Quon welcomed the announcement.

"The Gold Pavilion ... centres on a new entry and arrival experience to Sovereign Hill, an orientation centre, immense new exhibition spaces and three new state-of-the-art classrooms," she said.

"Both the economic benefit and social cultural benefit of this project to Ballarat and to Victoria is immense. Sovereign Hill believes in a visitor economy-led recovery and ... is very much ready to be a significant part of regional Victoria, driving jobs and driving visitations."

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During his visit to Sovereign Hill, Mr Guy strongly criticised the state government's response to COVID testing, the delay in ordering millions of rapid antigen test kits, and its "shambolic" handling of the Novak Djokovic situation.

Mr Guy also revealed that pre-selection for Liberal National candidates to contest the Ballarat electorates in November's election would open within weeks.

"We have been working through our upper house member Bev McArthur to look around for good local candidates," he said.

"We see Ballarat as a key part of the next election, we always have and we continue to. We haven't held a lower house seat here for some time and want that to change. It's too important a city in this state not to have lower house Liberal representation. (We will do) everything we can to get the trust of Ballarat."

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