Efforts to ensure the recovery of Victoria tourism economy will rely on regions collaborating on new experiences for visitors.
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Victoria Tourism Industry Council chief executive Felicia Mariani said encouraging Victorians to travel around Victoria would be important.
"(For now) most travel will remain intrastate," she said. "In the immediate future there is an opportunity to activate the Victorian market to travel around Victoria. It's important to note regional Victoria derives 80 percent of its visitors from Melbourne.
"As borders open there is going to be more competition. Melbourne and Sydney are going to be the biggest fishing ponds when other borders open. So it will be incredibly competitive.
"There now needs to be real collaborations with regions across Victoria. We can't fall into trap of looking at each other as competitors. We have to work together to build complete experiences to attract visitors."
City of Greater Bendigo tourism and major events manager Terry Karamaloudis said inter-regional collaborations would be important.
"Regional tourism boards in the first instance must elevate their collaborations and connectivity with neighbouring regions and have the creation of new experiences," he said. "The domestic market is going to be more competitive and we're already seeing it now.
"We're confident about Greater Bendigo and its attractions we have. They have served us well but we can't rest on our laurels - we need to develop new experiences ourselves and in collaboration with regional shires."
Ms Mariani said statistics from Deloitte Access Economics showed Victoria attracts $32 billion in tourism spending - including$12 billion for regional Victoria.
"Of that $12 billion in regional Victoria, five per cent of the spend comes from international markets and 15 per cent comes from interstate," she said. "That means 80 percent comes from Victorians travelling around Victoria. There is an opportunity to think about domestic holidays that are seven to 10 days long rather than three or four days."
Ms Mariani said reopening Bendigo to Sydney flights would help tourism recovery.
"Bendigo is at great advantage with its airport. It is critical those services resume as borders open," she said. "It is important to have access points in the state beyond Melbourne. Being able to enter the state at different points encourages visitation to further flung parts of Victoria."