A Frightening Statistic For Specialty Traders

We know that the Queen Victoria Market is a very important tourist attraction for the city of Melbourne but one category of tourists is showing serious decline and that has very serious implications.

More than 40% of all international visitors to Australia come to Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market and that is a striking endorsement to our international appeal. No wonder we have so many souvenir stalls here. They are serving strong demand.

But it is the other group of tourists, the home-grown regional and interstate tourists, that are in decline. Around 14% of country and interstate visitors to Melbourne used to come to the Queen Victoria  Market. That is now down to around 6%. These are the football fans from Perth, the rugby fans from Brisbane, the shoppers from Tasmania, and the day trippers from Bendigo, Ballarat, and other regional centres.

Most Specialty Traders will identify very strongly with these groups. They are often described as the “big spenders” or “the reason I had a good day”. Their decline is bad news. The good news is that QVM have identified the trend and the potential for correcting it is substantial. Why have they dropped off? What can we do about it? Is it our offer, the way these tourists now access Melbourne, or something else? We welcome your views.

Have Your Say - click here.

COMMENTS:

16/01/2018 10:50:05      Tourists         "Greg were did the sample figures come from how accurate are they//? I note that a trader[ souvenirs] did brisk trade until 4 30.... he is a late trader and the people walking the sheds are only after his product. Please respond. In regard to the first comment I feel that the fall off might be due to natural attrition ie our product being offered regionally please respond thanks."

The figures are from Tourism Victoria. I have rounded them off but our marketing people should be able to give you exacts for 2017. The 6% came from our marketing staff. The late trader? – His customers were definitely international and probably here for the tennis. They probably were not aware of our trading hours. By “the first comment” do you mean the drop in regionals and interstaters? If so, their access to more goods, locally and online, may be one of the reasons for the drop off. Our marketing staff are looking at other things as well including the number of regionals who used to come by bus direct to the market, and now come by train or car. Thanks for your input. - Ed