A packed March calendar of fashion, sport and entertainment events is driving up hotel rates across the city, with the Australian Grand Prix chief saying Melbourne's autumn schedule is the busiest he has seen since the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
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While March has always been a hectic month for the city, the boom time will last longer this year with two Cricket World Cup finals and a line-up of headline music acts, including Kylie Minogue, coming to town.
Many hotels around the CBD are completely booked out for the weekend of the Grand Prix, from March 12 to 15, while other hotels are cashing in by charging premium rates up to $850 more than their usual prices.
It is a similar scenario for the weekend of March 28 and 29 when the Cricket World Cup final will be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The January-March period is traditionally the busiest time of year for Melbourne – with 26 million visitors recorded by Tourism Victoria in 2014.
One of the biggest annual events is the Australian Melbourne Fashion Festival, which is this year expected to attract almost 380,000 people when it extends it program an extra two days.
The scheduling change will mean its launch on Saturday March 14 will clash with the grand prix weekend. But the festival's chief executive Graeme Lewsey said there had been no disputes over hire gear in the city – with the event employing the same teams every year.
He said hotel rooms at Crown had been booked well in advance for the festival's designers, special guests and VIPs, which this March include transgender supermodeln Andreja Pejic.
Behind the scenes, high-level co-operation takes place between the major events in Melbourne to ensure that they do not disrupt each other.
Australian Grand Prix Corporation chief executive Andrew Westacott began talks with the organisers of the Cricket World Cup two years ago. Mr Westacott said this co-operation meant hotel and restaurants would remain busy throughout the month, rather than be faced with a flurry of manic activity when functions were piled on top of each other.
"I think it is a testament as Melbourne's passion as a sporting capital and the most liveable city that we can accommodate these events," he said.
But the grand prix chief also warned that Melbourne could not afford to take its major event schedule for granted, with Sydney itching to steal some of the headline acts away.
Veteran taxi driver Bruce Tootell said the pre-Christmas period used to be the busiest time for Melbourne's cabbies, but in the last two years the months of February and March had stolen that crown.
"March and April in my opinion are the best months of the year in Melbourne in terms of weather," he said. "They are just absolutely gorgeous."
Melbourne's mad March:
Melbourne Food and Wine Festival - February 27 to March 15 –200,000
Moomba Festival – March 6 to 9 –1.26 million
Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix - March 12 to 15 - 314,700
Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival - March 14 to 22 - 377,563
Thai Culture and Food Festival - March 15 - 100,000
Melbourne International Comedy Festival - March 15 to April 19 - 701,106
Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show - March 25 to 29 - 110,000
Cricket World Cup quarter final and final - March 19 and March 29 - Up to 90,000 each game
Source: Melbourne City Council and event organisers.
BOOKING A HOTEL
Accommodation booking site Wotif.com say that the high demand on hotels in the CBD is already having a flow-on effect on surrounding areas, with hotels near the airport, Docklands and Carlton also experiencing a surge in bookings. Spokeswoman Donna Rodios said travellers heading to Melbourne during March looking for accommodation with a smaller price tag should consider staying in areas like Glen Waverley and Dandenong
