Minister for Tourism Louise Asher today welcomed Singapore Airlines' second daily A380 Melbourne-Singapore service, which will add 70,000 seats each year to the important air route.

Melbourne will host the world's leading transplantation experts in 2015 when they convene in the city for the Joint International Pancreas and Islet Transplant Association (IPITA), International Xenotransplantation Association (IXA) and Cell Transplant Society (CTS) Congress.

Melbourne will be awash with red when the British & Irish Lions rugby fans come to town in exactly 12 months as part of the Lions' 2013 Australian tour.

Minister for Tourism and Major Events Louise Asher today announced regional Victoria would be showcased at Federation Square over the next year, with a series of tourism videos on Victoria's regions being shown on the public screens at the high-traffic location.

Tourism and Major Events Minister Louise Asher today announced the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz will receive $30,000 from the Victorian Coalition Government through Tourism Victoria's Events Program.

The Victorian Coalition Government today announced $30,000 funding to support tourism marketing of the 2012 Australasian Worldwide Music Expo (AWME).

The Victorian Coalition Government today announced $75,000 in tourism marketing funding for this year's Melbourne Festival.

The Bendigo Art Gallery's blockbuster exhibition Grace Kelly: Style Icon has attracted more than 135,000 people in its three month run, with the city's restaurants, accommodation and shops packed as a result.

Christmas in July, comedy at the Marysville Community Centre and a mountain bike boot camp in Buxton are some of the events set to benefit from $79,000 of funding from the Victorian Coalition Government's Marysville Tourism and Events Marketing Program 2011-14.

Another Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibition has charged into the city, with Napoleon: Revolution to Empire opening at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).

Premier Ted Baillieu today announced the first recipients of the Victorian Government's Hamer Scholarships program that provides the opportunity for Victorians to improve their Chinese language skills in China.

Premier Ted Baillieu has launched Victoria's China Tourism Strategy at the Australia-China BusinessWeek luncheon in Melbourne.

A new joint State and Federal Government tourism plan to address labour and skills shortages is to be rolled out in two of Victoria's key tourism regions, the Mornington Peninsula and Phillip Island.

A strawberries and cherries weekend celebration in Bacchus Marsh, a Yarra Valley wine festival and cross-border sporting events on the Murray River are among the distinctive country events to receive funding from the Victorian Coalition Government, helping to drive economic growth in regional communities.

The Murray River and Grampians regions are set to benefit from $17,500 funding from the Victorian Coalition Government to support four events under Tourism Victoria's Flood Recovery Events Program.

Local, interstate and overseas Rugby Union fans have yet another chance to attend a world-class sporting event in Melbourne, with the upcoming Australia versus Wales Rugby Union Test Match at Etihad Stadium.

In an important endorsement of Victoria as a leader in social welfare reform, Melbourne has won the right to host 2000 delegates from around the world at the Joint World Conference on Social Work, Education and Social Development in 2014.

Melbourne has come a close second only to the 2012 Olympics host city London in the prestigious World's Ultimate Sport Cities Awards based on industry rankings from SportBusiness International.

Australia's premier long distance cross-country ski race will benefit from $10,000 funding from the Victorian Coalition Government through Tourism Victoria's Events Program.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional and Rural Development Peter Ryan and Minister for Tourism and Major Events Louise Asher have welcomed today's announcement that Regional Express (Rex) will launch a range of new passenger services connecting Mildura with Adelaide, Sydney and Broken Hill.