Boost to tourism from free tram travel

Tourists will be significant beneficiaries from the Victorian Government’s initiative to make tram travel in the CBD and Docklands free from January next year.

The Minister for Tourism Louise Asher said the move will make travel around Melbourne much easier for domestic and international visitors.

“This is an exciting and positive initiative that builds on Melbourne’s credentials as an international tourist city and the world’s most liveable city,” Ms Asher said.

It will be easier and more convenient for visitors to travel on the CBD network to visit the city’s extensive network of tourist attractions, cafes and restaurants, laneways and arcades, retail shops and precincts and cultural attractions.

The visitor experience is crucial in delivering positive word-of-mouth about Melbourne and ease of getting around the city is part of this.

Tourists visiting Melbourne for business events and major events will benefit from this initiative as it makes it easier and more convenient to visit and enjoy CBD and Docklands attractions.

“The Victorian Coalition Government expects that this initiative will encourage visitors to travel more readily to Melbourne’s tourist attractions with free inner city tram travel and the maximum daily fares at the Zone 1 rate across Melbourne’s entire tram, rail and bus network,”
Ms Asher said.

For the year ending September 2013, international overnight visitors to Melbourne increased by 8.3 per cent to 1.83 million, spending $4.5 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10.3 per cent.

Melbourne continued to attract 7 million domestic overnight visitors and
16.1 million day-trippers, spending a combined $7.5 billion in the year ending December 2013.

Tourism is a significant economic driver for Victoria, worth $19.1 billion a year or 5.8 per cent of the total Victorian economy and provides jobs for over 200,000 Victorians.

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