The number of international visitor arrivals to Victoria in April is more than half lower than the pre-COVID level recorded in April 2019, however Ballarat tourist attractions have seen strong regional and interstate visitation.
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Australian Bureau of Statistics data released this week show international visitor arrivals to Australia are bouncing back but there is still a long way before figures are back to pre-COVID-19 levels.
There were 65,620 short-term international trips to Victoria in April, an increase of 61,590 compared with the corresponding month of 2021.
However, the number of trips during April 2022 was 63.5 per cent lower than the pre-COVID level in April 2019, when there were 180,000 visitor arrivals.
New Zealand was the largest source country for Victoria, with 11,830 trips made in April. Other leading source countries were India (11,360) and the United Kingdom (7480).
Tourist attractions, Sovereign Hill and Creswick Woollen Mills, say strict travel restrictions for those travelling from mainland China to Australia due to the COVID-19 outbreak is behind the drop in overseas visitors.
Currently, Chinese citizens are restricted from travelling abroad for non-essential reasons.
Sovereign Hill Museums Association deputy chief executive officer Katrina Nitschke said the loss of Chinese visitors to the outdoor museum had been tough over the past few years.
"But we have seen really strong visitation from across Victoria and interstate while the international borders have been closed. We are pleased that we are starting to see international tourists return to our museum, with the borders opening up," Ms Nitschke said.
"There has been huge interest in travel from India and Singapore, especially, and we are looking forward to a full return from China when they are able to travel."
Ms Nitschke said as Australians continued to reconnect with friends and families, Sovereign Hill was seeing a positive increase in interstate visitation.
"This is terrific. Winter Wonderlights continue to attract many visiting friends and relatives from across Victoria to Ballarat," she said.
Throughout the past few years Victorians, and in particular regional Victorians and our local Ballarat community, have continued to support us tremendously for which we are grateful.
- Katrina Nitschke
China outbound travel is expected to begin in 2023 and may not return to 2019 numbers until 2024.
Creswick Woollen Mills executive director Boaz Herzfeld said it may take up to four years for international visitor numbers to climb to 2019 levels.
He said the Chinese market was a major part of his family-run business and he had to look at other ways to attract visitors.
"Creswick Woollen Mills continues to work local interstate and international visitors. The support of the local community has been so important as we have navigated the drop off of overseas tourists," Mr Herzfeld said.
"A great collaborating example was Visit Ballarat working with Tourism Australia to make new fresh media content to promote Creswick Woollen Mills through a wider tourism audience."
In 2021, the most frequently stated main reason for journey by short-term visitors to Australia was visiting friends/relatives (60.1 per cent), employment (9.2 per cent) and holiday (8.7 per cent), according to the ABS.
Mr Herzfeld said the Creswick Woollen Mills attracted visitors from the Ballarat region and people from Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney visiting family.
He reminded residents to bring visiting family and friends to attractions located across the Ballarat region.
"A call to action to locals. Don't forget to bring visiting family and friends to local attractions," Mr Herzfeld said.
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"Our business is predicated on locals and visiting friends and family from Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney. Local tourism would depend on locals supporting us."
"We want to say thank you to the local community because the support has been amazing and we want to repay the local community. We are doing lots of good stuff to try and help the local community as well."
For more information on the woollen mills visit https://www.creswickwool.com/
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