Popular Internationally [06.10.2008]

• For the second year running, Melbourne was voted number two in the favourite overseas city category of the 2003 Guardian and Observer Travel Awards in the UK. Based on ratings by readers, Melbourne was given an overall score of 95.1%. (Source: www.mcvb.com.au)

• In 2002, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotel's Hotel Affordability Index found a room in one of London's hotels is more than twice as expensive as a room in Melbourne. (Source: www.mcvb.com.au)

• Melbourne has over 19,000 accommodation rooms, 15,000 are centrally located; 4,300 5-star rooms; 6,000 4-star rooms; and 1,980 3-star rooms. (Source: www.mcvb.com.au)

• Over 50% of business delegates coming to Melbourne plan to return to the city for a holiday within the next two years. (Source: Victoria University)

• The gay.com website declared Melbourne the No. 2 place to visit on a list of top 10 international destinations because of the city's bars, theatres, cuisine, parks, skyline and gay-friendly attitude. (Source: www.amazingaustralia.com.au)

• The Regional Victorian daytrip market to Melbourne is booming with daytrips to Melbourne from Victoria’s regions increasing by 21% on the year ended September 2002. (Source: www.destinationmelbourne.com.au)

• Melbourne offers tourists and residents a Free City Circle Tourist Tram which continuously does a circuit of the Central Business District, taking passengers past a large number of Melbourne’s tourist attractions. (Source: www.newcomersnetwork.com)

• More than 20 cruise ships come to Melbourne each season, with each visit estimated to be worth an average of $1 million to the local economy. (Source: Tourism Victoria)

• Melbourne is home to Australia’s first Heritage-listed building: the Royal Exhibition Building and Gardens. The Sydney Opera House was listed on June 28, 2007. Melbourne’s eclectic architecture reflects the fascinating diversity of Australia's rich past. Government House is in the style known as Italianate and is one of the finest examples of this type of architecture in Australia. Completed in 1890, Labassa is a French Renaissance mansion significant for the relative completeness of its richly decorated and finely executed interiors. Three houses at Coventry Street are among the few 19th century prefabricated iron buildings remaining in the world. Rippon Lea is the last of Australia's great privately owned 19th century suburban estates. Designed and built 1868 in the Romanesque style, the mansion is surrounded by a beautifully maintained original Victorian pleasure garden which is of international significance. (Source: www.nattrust.com.au)

• Melbourne’s Airport has recorded the highest passenger growth of any major Australian airport for the past five years. In relation to international flights, Melbourne Airport has enjoyed annual traffic growth of:

• 4% growth out of North East Asia

• 14% growth out of Europe
• 14% growth out of South East Asia
• 17% growth out of New Zealand
• 39% growth out of Pacific Islands.

(Source: Melbourne Airport)

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Game [06.10.2008]

• Melbourne’s Crown entertainment complex is the largest gaming venue in the southern hemisphere, and one of the world’s largest entertainment complexes of its kind. The complex, covering 510,000 square metres attracts an average of 12 million visitors each year (360,000 visitors every week) and is the largest single site employer in Victoria employing around 7,500 staff. Crown Casino has more table games, pokies machines and largest jackpots than any other casino in Australia and it also has the first Las-Vegas-style Poker Room in the Southern Hemisphere. (Source: Crown Ltd)

• Melbourne is Australia’s computer games capital. A thriving cluster of local game development companies is making an impact on the international scene. A growing number of multinational publishers, such as the world’s second-largest independent games publisher, Atari, are choosing to base their Asian headquarters in Melbourne. Electronic Arts (USA) and Nintendo have significant operations in Melbourne. (Source: FilmMelbourneNow)

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Developing [06.10.2008]

• Melbourne's population of 3,203,088, nearly 70% of Victoria’s population, grew by more than 218,000 people or 7.2% between the 1996 and 2001 censuses. More than half this population growth reflected residential developments in the outer and fringe suburbs such as Caroline Springs in the west, Roxburgh Park in the north and Narre Warren South in the south-east. (Source: www.abs.gov.au)

• Victoria's economy grew 18 percent in the past five years, faster than the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Performance (OECD) average. Growth was particularly strong in the finance sector (including banking and funds management), construction activity (including dwellings and infrastructure development), retail trade, health services, business services and education. (Source: www.business.vic.gov.au) Victoria's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita is above the national average. Employment rose 12 percent, or 260,000 jobs, in the past five years reducing the unemployment rate to around five percent. (Source: www.business.vic.gov.au)

• Redevelopment in Melbourne’s city centre and inner suburbs such as Docklands and Southbank have contributed to an increase in population in these areas, and reversed the population decline in the inner city areas. Population growth in the local government areas of Melbourne and Port Phillip represented 12% of Melbourne's overall growth between 1996 and 2001. As with all capital cities in Australia part of this inner city growth is associated with an increase in medium or high density housing. (Source: www.abs.gov.au)

• Melbourne’s port is the best performing sea freight logistics chain in Australia. In another record year for the Port of Melbourne, total trade for the 2003/04 financial year increased by 8.8% to 59.9 million revenue tonnes, equivalent to 26.7 million mass tones. Trade growth was driven by high consumer confidence and a strong Australian dollar resulting in buoyant retail sales boosted by household spending, non-residential construction activity, an improving agricultural sector, and continuing low interest rates. All trade sectors achieved positive growth with:

• Overseas exports increasing 7.6% to 16.8 million revenue tonnes;

• Overseas imports up 7.4% to 23.3 million revenue tonnes;

• Coastal exports were up 10.6% to 8.6 million revenue tonnes; and

• Coastal imports up 12.4% to 10.7 million revenue tonnes.(Source: www.portofmelbourne.com.au)

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Naturally Enticing [06.10.2008]

• Contrary to popular belief, Melbourne has one of the lowest rainfalls of an Australian capital city. It also enjoys a temperate climate which is not given to extremes. (Source: www.undergraduate.law.unimelb.edu.au)

• The city is situated on the banks of probably one of the cleanest capital-city rivers in the world, the Yarra River. The headwaters of the Yarra River flow from the pristine flanks of Mt Baw Baw in Victoria's West Gippsland region. (Source: http://www.yarrariver.info/history.htm)

• Melbourne was ranked first in a 1998 international survey, which measured the extent of public parks in 17 capital cities (463 hectares of parks and gardens within a three kilometre radius of the CBD). (Source: www.vmec.com.au)

• The Royal Botanic Gardens is one of the world’s best gardens of this type and other beautiful public gardens found in and around the CBD include the Alexandra Gardens, Birrarung Marr, Carlton Gardens, Fawkner Park, Fitzroy Gardens, Flagstaff Gardens, JJ Holland Park, Kings Domain, Princes Park, Queen Victoria Gardens, Royal Park, Royal Park Wetlands, Shrine Reserve, Treasury Gardens, and Yarra Park. (Source: www.newcomersnetwork.com)

• Within an hour or so of Melbourne lie a breathtaking choice of places to see and visit, including beaches, rainforests, mountains, lakes, rugged coastline and rolling countryside. These can easily be reached by car, train or bus. (Source: www.law.unimelb.edu.au/)

• In under a day’s drive from Melbourne, visitors can experience natural attractions such as mountains, temperate rainforests, rugged coastal scenery, volcanic plains, vineyards, lakes, magnificent rivers, wildflowers in spring and snow in winter. Across Victoria’s 13 regions are more than 30 national parks, regarded as some of the best in the world, protecting the state’s valuable natural assets. Victoria’s fascinating native wildlife includes kangaroos, koalas, wombats, platypus, echidnas and lovable little penguins, which parade nightly along an island beach. Its extensive coastline also provides plentiful opportunities to get up close to dolphins, seals and whales. What’s more, the state’s lush forests and parklands are havens for stunning varieties of native birds – the extraordinary mallee fowl, the elusive lyrebird, emus and reed warblers, to name a few. (Source: www3.visitvictoria.com)

• Victoria's many walking and riding trails are close to Melbourne with most within easy driving distance of the city. (Source: www3.visitvictoria.com)

• Melbourne is home to Australia's first zoo. It opened on its current site in 1862. Significant historic features such as the design of the Main Walk and an early 20th Century menagerie exhibit are preserved for visitors in an historic zone. More than 350 animal species from around the world are on display in the zoo’s attractive enclosures and botanical settings, just 4 kilometres from the CBD. (www.zoo.org.au)

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Affordable [06.10.2008]

• In 2002, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels Hotel Affordability Index found a room in one of London's hotels is more than twice as expensive as a room in Melbourne. (Source: www.mcvb.com.au)

• Melbourne offers tourists and residents a Free City Circle Tourist Tram which continuously does a circuit of the Central Business District, taking passengers past a large number of Melbourne’s tourist attractions. (Source: www.newcomersnetwork.com)

• In the 2003 Global Cost of Living Survey by Mercer, Melbourne was deemed a cost effective city when it was ranked 111 out of 114 cities in relation to cost. (Number 1, Tokyo, was ranked the most expensive city). (Source: www.mcvb.com.au) Victoria recorded the highest home ownership rate (43.7%) in the 1996 Census of Population and Housing, followed by New South Wales (42.5%) and Tasmania (42.4%), while the lowest was recorded in the Northern Territory (17.8%). (Source: www.abs.gov.au) And there are no death duties or inheritance taxes in Victoria to reduce the family inheritance. (Source: www.legalaid.vic.gov.au)

• The State of Victoria is one of Australia's economic powerhouses and the city of Melbourne is among the most competitive business locations in the Asia Pacific. Office occupancy costs in Melbourne are some of the lowest in the Asia-Pacific region, well below Singapore, Mumbai, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Victoria offers competitively priced office space and development sites. Office and industrial space rental in Melbourne is more affordable than Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo and most American locations. Large areas of land for development are still available within ready access to freeways, the Melbourne International Airport and the Port of Melbourne. (Source: www.businessmelbourne.com.au)

• Melbourne has the world's second lowest business costs for a large international city of more than two million people. (Source: KPMG 2004 Competitive Alternatives)

• Just wandering the streets of the city will bring you in contact with Melbourne’s rich veins of free-to-view public sculpture, murals and other art works. There are large murals at Eastern Hill Fire Station and Spencer Street Station. The sculptures which seem to best characterise Melbourne have a sense of whimsy and include the Three Businessmen Who Brought Their Own Lunch, Larry Latrobe, weather vanes, The Public Purse, Brunswick Street’s street signs. (Source: www.whitehat.com.au)

• Melburnians enjoy a wealth of free concerts, sponsored by corporates and arts organisations themselves, and offered in the CBD during lunch-hour, in the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Summer, at even from time to time at the prestigious Hamer Hall at the Victorian Arts Centre. (Source: www.theage.com.au)

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Philanthropically-Minded [06.10.2008]

Melbourne’s tradition of philanthropic business leaders started with people like Sidney Myer and continues today through the Melbourne Prize Trust offers one of the richest arts prizes in Australia. The first inaugural Prize will be awarded in 2005, for Urban Sculpture, then Literature in 2006 and Music in 2007. The Melbourne Prize Trust recognises and rewards excellence and talent, inspires creative talent and will enrich public life in Melbourne. The annual Melbourne Prize is run by the Melbourne Prize Trust (the Trust) which was created from an endowment generated from the sale of limited-edition copyright miniatures of ‘The Magic Pudding’ sculpture, a landmark public artwork located in the Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens. (Source: www.melbourneprizetrust.org)

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Cosmopolitan [06.10.2008]

• Melbourne is Australia’s most cosmopolitan city. It is the home, workplace and leisure centre of 3.6 million people and is one of the world's most harmonious and culturally diverse communities. Residents from more than 140 nations live side by side in Melbourne, brought here by four main waves of migration. Melbourne has a population mix of 74 per cent are Anglo-Celtic, 19 per cent other European, and 4.5 per cent Asian. (Source: www.melbourne.vic.gov.au)

• A quarter of Melburnians were born overseas and successive waves of immigration from Europe, the Middle East and Asia have helped to create the cosmopolitan metropolis that exists today. (Source: www.melbourne.citysearch.com.au)

• Melbourne (26.0%) has Australia’s second highest proportion of people who reported speaking a language other than English at home in the 1996 Census. (Source: www.abs.gov.au)

• The largest communities in Melbourne are from: England: 127,716; Italy: 80,740; Vietnam: 55,859; Greece: 55,735; New Zealand: 45,749. (Source: The Age Magazine, Issue 8, Page 48)

• Melbourne ranks very high in terms of openness to immigration. (Source: “Regions on the Rise”, Richard Florida)

• Melbourne has seven sister cities. They are: Osaka, Japan – 1978; Tianjin, People's Republic of China – 1980; Thessaloniki, Greece – 1984; Boston, United States – 1985; Saint Petersburg, Russia – 1989; Milan, Italy – 2004; Galle, Sri Lanka, 2005. (www.onlymelbourne.com.au)

• The majority of Australia’s Jewry lives in Melbourne (45,000) and the city has the highest percentage of Holocaust survivors of any Jewish community in the world. (Source: www.worldjewishcongress.org)

• Melbourne is the number 10 in the world as a destination for immigrants rated by the Mosaic Index list researched by Dr Richard Florida (Source: “The Flight of the Creative Class”, page 172)

• Melbourne is actively working to maintain its global relevance. The Melbourne Diplomatic Network, an initiative of the Committee for Melbourne and the Victorian Government, was launched by the Premier in 2003 with the goal of highlighting and contributing to the critical role played by the Melbourne Consular and Australian Diplomatic Corps in the development of constructive economic, social and cultural links between Victoria and foreign governments, businesses, NGOs and individuals. (Source: www.melbourne.org.au)

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Advanced in Infrastructure [06.10.2008]

• Melbourne has an advanced infrastructure including access to broadband, advanced telecommunications and competitive utility prices. Melbourne is fully cabled, with broadband optical fibre within 100 metres of every major office location in the city. (Source: www.businessmelbourne.com.au)

• Melbourne has Australia’s only 24-hour curfew-free International Airport – currently rated among the world’s top five. (Source: www.businessmelbourne.com.au) The Airport receives over 200 direct international flights per week, from major international destinations, with over 21 international carriers flying to Melbourne direct. (Source: www.mcvb.com.au) Melbourne Airport passenger numbers hit a record high in 2005, with the airport recording more than 20 milllion passengers in a single financial year for the first time ever. (Source: www.melbourneairport.com.au)

• Melbourne has Australia’s largest container port, handling almost 40% of the nation’s container trade as well as being one of the largest general cargo ports.(Source: www.businessmelbourne.com.au)

• Melbourne has one of the largest rail systems in the world, with 15 lines. The city and its suburbs are well serviced by an extensive transport network of affordable trains, trams, buses and taxis. The Paris Metro is a third smaller, while San Francisco's BART is less than half the size. (Source: 2005 Public Transport Users Association)

• Melbourne also has the third largest tram network in the world with 245 kilometres of double track extending out to about 15km into the suburbs. It is the only suburban tram network in Australia still in existence. (Source: Yarra Trams)

• Melbourne has an extensive road infrastructure with a network of freeways, highways and arterial roads. (Source: www.businessmelbourne.com.au)

• Melbourne is home to what is considered to be the world's best-developed and perfectly situated cluster of sporting facilities in the world. Major facilities include the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Telstra Dome, Rod Laver Arena, Hisense Arena, Olympic Park, Flemington Race Course and Optus Oval. (Source: www.thatsmelbourne.com.au)

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Industrially Diverse [06.10.2008]

• Victoria accounts for almost one-third of Australia's total manufacturing output and leads the way in developing new industries. Victoria's manufacturing sector is diverse with a healthy research and development component. The sector employs hundreds of thousands of people and is widely regarded as Australia's centre for defence manufacturing, research and development. (Source: Live in Victoria website)

• Finance and business services, followed by the ‘wellness’ sector are the largest industries in the city. (Source: www.thatsmelbourne.com.au)

• A high proportion of knowledge workers indicate Melbourne’s strong ability to create and use knowledge throughout the economy and in Victoria’s labour force, knowledge workers represent 40% of all employed persons. This is second only to the ACT. Knowledge workers are composed of the following classifications: managers and administrators, professionals and associate professionals using the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO). (Source: DIIRD)

• Melbourne’s mature film-making industry, which has spanned over 100 years, is evidence of the creative culture that defines the city. The recent development of Melbourne’s Central City Studios just over a kilometre from the Melbourne CBD completes the suite of the city’s international-standard film-making facilities. (Source: FilmMelbourneNow)

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Eventful [06.10.2008]

• Melbourne is the event capital of Australia. Victoria attracts approximately 230,000 international event visitors. This represents 38% market share of all international event visitors to Australia. Victoria has 16 ‘hallmark’ events, 14 annual and 2 biennial events. This is more than any other state in Australia. (Source: Tourism Victoria)

• Melbourne improved its position as Australia’s business events destination from 26th in the world in 2003 to 11th in the world in 2004, according to the International Congress and Convention Association. (Source: www.MCVB.com.au)

• Melbourne has Australia’s highest concentration of convention facilities located in the city centre, including Australia’s largest exhibition centre and five major convention hotels. (Source: www.mcvb.com.au)

• The new $367M 5000-seat Convention Centre, to be competed in 2008, is already attracting bookings. (Source: Tourism Victoria)

• Melbourne is Australia’s festival capital. The city's flagship Melbourne International Festival of the Arts occurs in October, a few weeks after the alternative Melbourne Fringe, and just before the Spring Racing Carnival. The huge Melbourne Comedy Festival draws massive crowds in mid-autumn each year, while film buffs flock to the Film Festival in late July. Community festivals are always very popular: Melbourne's Greeks celebrate the Antipodes Festival along Lonsdale Street (March), Italians get down at the annual Lygon Street Fiesta (October), and the Spanish Festival along Johnston Street, Fitzroy, happens in November. Not to mention the Fashion Festival, the Writers' Festival, the Next Wave new arts festival, the Midsumma gay and lesbian festival, and so many more. (Source: www.melbourne.citysearch.com.au)

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