BirthME, Doulas

Our state's tall forests, historic villages, Australian wildlife, vine-filled valleys and rugged coastlines are all within a 90-minute drive from Melbourne.Victoria’s visitor economy is the state's second largest service export sector after international education.Melbourne is a truly magnificent city in which to live, work and study.In 2017, Melbourne was once again ranked the world's most liveable city by the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Global Liveability Index – an accolade we've received seven years running. Over the last five years total tourism expenditure in Victoria has grown by 9.2 per cent per annum, compared to the national growth rate of 7.6 per cent per annum.International overnight visitors to Victoria spent an estimated A$8.6 billion in the year ending June 2019, representing growth of 12.2 per cent per annum over the period year ending June 2014 to June 2019. The city that makes the top three in the most categories is Canberra, and the city with the most #1 rankings is Launceston.So does this mean Melbourne doesn’t deserve its ‘liveable’ reputation? Not at all.Some of these indices are up for interpretation. Victoria's successful visitor economy has produced a rate of tourism growth well above the national performance. Melbourne is a truly magnificent city in which to live, work and study. 2017-18 State Tourism Satellite Accounts produced by Tourism Research Australia, August 2019 |  2. International Visitor Survey, National Visitor Survey, June 2019, Tourism Research Australia, Canberra, released October 2019. Liveable Cities Conference: Webinar Series 2020 is a three-part series designed to equip you with advanced strategies for sustainable city creation.. In the same way that vegans love telling people that they’re vegan or how someone who’s just taken up CrossFit won’t stop yapping on about it, there’s nothing Melburnians love more than bragging about their city. bushfires, floods, pandemics) and of our environments and biodiversity will also help decision-makers, those in government, and health and emergency services prepare and understand risks associated with these big issues… [But] to have the greatest effect, these aspects need to be measured objectively.”Time will tell if Melbourne tops the rankings this year – the jury’s still out, however.Customise your D'Marge reading experience by selecting your preferred region below.
In 2017, Melbourne was once again ranked the world's most liveable city by the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Global Liveability Index – an accolade we've received seven years running.

such as Hamer Hall and Federation Square.Melbourne puts on a spectacular series of large-scale sporting events throughout the year.Experience Grand Slam fever at the Australian Open Tennis, the thrill of Formula 1 racing at the Australian Grand Prix, the roar of the crowd at the AFL Grand Final, the fast-paced Twenty20 Cricket, and our 'race that stops the nation' – the iconic and sophisticated Melbourne Cup.Victoria has firmly established itself as Australia’s best visitor destination, with growing demand from all over the world to experience our wealth of diverse tourism offerings. Nevertheless, there is still value in composite indexes because they focus attention on high-level issues that can be delved into using the individual measures on which the index is comprised.”So while it makes for a good headline or talking point, the EIU’s Global Liveability Ranking (as well as other corporate rankings, such as What is intriguing is the Australian Urban Observatory’s results. This obscures the impact of the underlying measures. Vienna has been named the world's most livable city for the second year running.. Economist Intelligence Unit, Global Liveability Report | 2. The rationale is that access to alcohol is linked to harmful alcohol consumption and alcohol-related violence, but for many people, greater access to alcohol would be considered a positive as opposed to a negative.Like any exercise in data analysis, one needs to look critically at the results of these rankings rather than boiling things down to a simple exercise in ‘whoever gets the most #1s wins’.What these rankings don’t take into account is The Pandemic – which is where Melbourne may see the biggest hit to their liveability reputation, at least in the eyes of the public.While Melbourne might be suffering particularly badly right now compared to other Australian cities, a little bit of perspective is worthwhile. Explore Phillip Island's great beaches and famous Penguin Parade, the Great Ocean Road's sleepy beach holiday towns and the breathtaking 12 Apostles.For further information on Victoria’s visitor economy please visit Source:  1. Indeed, Dr Gunn reckons that the events of 2020 will have an impact on how these organisations determine liveability going forward.“In time, I think that other aspects related to liveability will play a role in its measurement. Australia is ranked by expats in the top 10 places to live, ranking particularly highly for general quality of life, ease of settling in and as a destination for working abroad.Melbourne's inner-city atmosphere is fuelled by a creative, culturally diverse community and is globally recognised as one of the most concentrated dining and fashion cultures in the world. Expat Insider 2014 Survey.Victoria has firmly established itself as Australia’s best visitor destination, with growing demand from all over the world to experience our wealth of diverse tourism offerings.The visitor economy is a significant contributor to the Victorian economy and is growing faster than the Victorian economy overall. Essentially a city may perform well on one measure and poorly on another cancelling out or compressing the overall effect. Scott Morrison to Neil Mitchell after learning Vienna beat our Melbourne (2) and Sydney (3) for most liveable city again.
Australia as a whole has been quite fortunate when it comes to COVID-19 – many other ‘liveable’ countries and cities are faring far worse than we are.For example, Switzerland: the richest country in the world, whose largest city, Zürich, topped the most recent Virtually every country on earth has been affected by the pandemic, so it will be hard to say how the 2020 rankings will reflect this global crisis.