Melbourne, Victoria

Melbourne, Victoria is the home of the race that stops the nation - The Emirates Melbourne Cup. With all eyes on the race, its also good to remember that Melbourne is actually always alive with events, music, arts, culture, shopping and dining experiences and excitement. There are so many activities for the locals and the visitors to experience and enjoy. From the markets to fine dining to art galleries to comedy festivals and the sporting including the races, its hard to beleive that the City ever stops. There are events almost weekly and further information and calendars of these events can be found at the Visit Victoria Website

During the 15 days of the Spring Racing Carnival, Melbourne plays host to over 715,000 people who attend the events, including the Melbourne Cup. In 2009 alone, 90 race meetings were held accross the state and the huge influx of international as well as interstate visitors attended the Spring Racing Carnival, injecting over $513 million into the Victorian Economy.

Visit Victoria - states that the Spring Racing Carnival puts Victoria on the international map with its high-quality racing and influx of international competitors and visitors each year.

A Tourism Victoria report claimed that approximately 230,000 international visitors attend events in Victoria every year and that the number of tourists represents 42% of all event visitors to Australia. The report put out by Tourism Victoria also suggested that the visitors to the state generates "an actual economic impact of $1 billion" (it should be noted that there was no actual evidence to support the claims though).(O'Hanlon 2009)

From colourful racing carnivals to Grand Slam tennis, there's always something exciting happening in Victoria.

With food and wine events, jazz, and comedy shows, surfing tournaments, and flower and garden displays

Victoria celebrates with major festivals and special events throughout the year.