Last weekend I stood among 65,000 people celebrating Ballarat being projected - quite literally - in a new light.
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The success of White Night Ballarat truly does reflect the city's creativity and warmth, with a program featuring vibrant works from 34 Ballarat-based artists, music from 13 local acts and more than 85 local hospitality businesses.
Since Saturday, I've heard from operators about how many out-of-state and first-time visitors they served during the night, and how heartening they found it to welcome families and visitors all excited to be out enjoying what Ballarat has to offer.
We're proud to support Ballarat through events like White Night.
We know tourism, sport and major events have a large role to play in creating jobs, supporting local businesses and bringing communities together.
From the Western Bulldogs v Gold Coast Suns match in March that brought almost 10,000 footy fans into Mars Stadium or the Starrcast Downunder professional wrestling event that brought almost 9,000 wrestling fanatics here - nearly half who travelled from outside Ballarat - or the Ballarat Marathon, which debuted earlier this year under the leadership of inspiring local Steve Moneghetti.
We've also been hard at work sharing Ballarat's story with the rest of Australia, and the rest of the world. The recent Masterchef episode filmed at Black Cat Truffles just outside of Ballarat was seen by more than a million Australians.
As part of the recent Australian Tourism Exchange held in Victoria, six tourism operators from Ballarat held meetings with hundreds of international buyers from across the globe.
And over the past few weeks 76 international tourism industry buyers and media have come to Ballarat and the region to learn more about the Ballarat's story and to sell the region's unique experiences to 37 countries.
Tourism Research Australia data shows that domestic visitor expenditure in Ballarat increased 44 per cent between 2019 and 2023.
But we want to do more.
And that's why local Labor MPs Juliana Addison, Michaela Settle, Martha Haylett and the Allan Labor Government are backing even more events in 2024 to attract crowds to the region. These include the upcoming the 10th anniversary Winter Wonderlights at Sovereign Hill, the Western Bulldogs match in Ballarat scheduled for late August, and many more.
These events are supported through our $170 million Regional Tourism and Events Fund aimed at boosting tourism, creating more jobs and backing businesses.
On behalf of Premier Jacinta Allan, I want to thank the workers, businesses, council and the wider community for putting on White Night Ballarat and for showcasing the best of what regional Victoria has to offer.
- Steve Dimopoulos is the Victorian Minister for Tourism.
