The state government’s Victorian Visitor Economy Strategy outlines a goal to increase visitor expenditure from $23.1 billion last year to $36.5 billion in 2024-25, accompanied by a 56 per cent growth in jobs in the industry, from 206,000 to 320,700.

Tourism Minister John Eren announced the strategy at the Victorian Tourism Conference in Bendigo on Tuesday, and said Victoria had already overtaken Queensland in visitor numbers and was closing in on New South Wales.

But Mr Eren said a challenge lay in getting high-spending tourists dispersed from Melbourne to the state’s regional and rural areas.

While overnight visitors to regional areas exceeded those to Melbourne by 3500 last year, their expenditure was only 41 per cent of that in Melbourne and the vast majority came from within Victoria, with just 3 per cent from overseas.

The strategy identifies low international visitation, low awareness among domestic visitors of regional experiences, limited transport, a limited range of accommodation, lack of investment, and in some areas, restricted internet access, as challenges for regional tourism.

Mr Eren said regional areas had diverse offerings for visitors and information on these needed to be collated and promoted to attract visitors.

In the strategy, the government said it would address the challenges with a host of funding packages, collaboration with regional tourism boards and marketing programs to encourage Victorians to holiday within the state.

Improving the online experience for those planning to visit regional areas, supporting regional events, encouraging the development of Indigenous tourism businesses and promoting opportunities for international students to study in regional areas have also been listed.

The funding will include $101 million for a new regional tourism infrastructure fund and $20 million over four years for regional events.

Mr Eren said an advisory committee was developing a plan to implement the strategy, which would be completed by the end of the year.

Tourism was worth $11.5 billion to regional Victoria in 2013-14 and was responsible for 114,400 jobs.

Member for Bendigo West Maree Edwards said the Bendigo area was “not just about the goldfields anymore” and there were a lot of new and innovative ideas that needed to be built on to boost the visitor economy.

Ms Edwards said collaboration across the wider region, as seen in the recently launched Bendigo Region Destination Management Plan, was also important.

During his visit Mr Eren applauded Bendigo’s tourism sector, including the Bendigo Art Gallery and the city’s cafes and restaurants.