Victoria, Australia, Sees Increase in International Visitors

Good news for Victoria, Australia: Melbourne Airport’s international passengers grew by nine percent in the third quarter, from January to March of 2012, compared to the same period last year. That’s an additional 144,916 passengers over 2011 and takes total international passengers to 1,767,378 for the quarter.

Asia (particularly China) is the driving force for international passenger growth, but a strong roosted of international events also helped. The Australian Open Championships, the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix, the Melbourne International Food & Wine Festival and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival all took place in the first quarter of the year with a particularly busy month in March. Countries with strong growth in passport holders for the quarter included China and Japan which grew by 18.2 percent, Taiwan by 16.9 percent, Sri Lanka by 14.4 percent, Philippines by 11.8 percent, U.S. by 11.9 percent and New Zealand by 9.2.