Tourism operators in Victoria have listed limited budgets and internal resourcing as the biggest challenge facing their marketing teams next year.
The finding was contained in a batch of exclusive insights provided to travelBulletin by marketing agency Scooter, which sought to map out the future landscape for marketers in the travel and tourism sectors.
Four in five Victorian tourism respondents noted a strain on budgets is likely to be an obstacle in 2026, with 65% also suggesting they will be tested trying to stay innovative with fewer resources.
In a concerning sign for Victoria’s tourism sector, almost half of businesses conceded they are worried about losing cut-through in a crowded destination landscape, while around a third said they will be forced to combat lower visibility due to reduced state-led consumer campaigns.
The latter point was raised as a concern by an irate Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) earlier this year, which lambasted the Victorian Government for failing to restore any of the cuts made to its tourism marketing budget in 2024.
Instead, the state’s budget was maintained at $26 million in the latest budget for 2025/26.
“This is difficult to rationalise when you consider that Victoria’s visitor economy is projected to grow to nearly $55 billion by 2030 and we already employ nearly 290,000 people in our sector, with more than half of those in regional Victoria,” VTIC CEO Felicia Mariani said back in May.
“We are a net-positive investment when you acknowledge that we deliver immediate return-on investment by driving visitors to the state who have already injected $40 billion into our economy.
“More importantly, you don’t need to wait five years in building complex infrastructure before the state sees any return,” she added.
The Scooter survey also showed that successfully reaching new visitor segments without state-wide support was an anxiety for roughly one in five Victorian tourism businesses.
Adapting to changes in travel behaviours and expectations was viewed as a hurdle for around 45% of businesses as well.
