Street art of Melbourne has an advantage over Sydney

Melbourne is regarded by locals as one of the best cultural destinations in the world. This includes its side streets and alleys that are filled with street art, an enviable musical scene and world-class art institutions. Interestingly internationally, Sydney continues to appear as the main Australian city when we speak of cultural and creative capitals.

A recent study commissioned by the Victoria government and conducted by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shows that there is a lag in cultural tourism in the state due to a lack of promotion of the art and culture that is offered as well as the inability to provide a cultural guide for tourists.

According to a Global Traveler survey, for Australians Melbourne is the most creative city in Asia Pacific, while for international visitors it is Sydney. However, once they have visited Melbourne they slightly change their mind and are 25% more likely to recommend the city as a cultural destination.

However, competition for cultural tourism is no longer limited only to the traditional rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney; now the competition includes cities like Mumbai, Singapore or Seoul. According to the BCG study, cultural tourism and the creative industry contributed 25 billion dollars to the Victorian state economy in 2015.

Among the major attractions for domestic and international tourists is the street art of Melbourne, only after the Melbourne Museum and NGV. The city is already known as the capital of street art. However, there are those who are against and who are in favor of this art form. Despite this, its popularity is undeniable, and it is very easy to find tourists taking photographs in the multiple alleys of the city and even guided tours organized by local artists, thus providing an important advantage to distinguish between the huge competition between cities.

However, despite the economic spill left to the city, both the government and other social spheres still oppose practices such as graffiti and use a good amount of resources to remove them from the streets, businesses, buildings and trains.