February 1st, 2025Biggest ever Australian Open smashes records
This year’s Australian Open will officially go down as the biggest ever, drawing a record crowd of more than 1.2 million tennis fans passing through the gates during an exhilarating three weeks of competition in the state’s capital.
Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Steve Dimopoulos during the week celebrated the completion of another spectacular Australian Open in Melbourne, highlighted by the triumph of men’s singles winner Jannik Sinner and women’s singles winner Madison Keys.
Surpassing the previous attendance record set just last year, daily attendance records continued to be broken throughout the tournament, culminating in last year’s overall record being exceeded on day 14 of the main draw.
The huge influx of interstate and overseas visitors has been a boon for accommodation across Melbourne with STR (Smith Travel Research) confirming 93 per cent of all hotel rooms were booked on Saturday 18 January, the midway point of the tournament.
The 2024 Australian Open generated more than $533 million in economic benefits for the state, with this year’s edition set to top that figure and add to the $3.14 billion the Open has generated for the Victorian economy over the past decade.
Victoria’s major event calendar will keep rolling with more blockbuster sporting action as the MCG makes history, hosting its first ever day-night Test match with Australia taking on England in the CommBank Women’s Ashes Test match that got under way on Thursday and runs through to tomorrow (February 2).
The single Test match is the culmination of the Women’s Ashes which is a multi-format, point-based series made up of three ODIs, three T20Is and one Test.
The Ashes Test match is the first women’s Test played at the MCG since 1948-49 and is celebrating the 90th anniversary of the inaugural women’s Test series between Australia and England in 1934-35.
Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Steve Dimopoulos: “This year’s Australian Open has broken records with over a million tennis fans flocking to Melbourne Park to witness the world’s best tennis players, and many millions more watching at home as we showcase Victoria to the world.”
“We’re the major events capital of Australia because of world class events like the Australian Open, they bring thousands of visitors to Melbourne, filling hotels and boosting businesses across the state.”
This story based on a state government media release
