Location advantages

Melbourne, one of the world’s most liveable cities, is the capital city of Victoria, Australia. It is a city of energy, sophistication and innovation. It is also a city of history and cultural diversity.

Melbourne has received national and international recognition as a top destination for sports, events, travel, shopping, literature and more.

Victoria's economic and political centre is located within the central city area.

Accolades

In August 2011, The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) selected Melbourne as the world's Most Liveable City.
Melbourne emerged as Australia's most popular destination for domestic travellers in the 2010 Hotel Price Index.
Melbourne is ranked 14 out of 150 in the world's top performing metropolitan areas in terms of population, income and employment growth, post world global financial crisis. 2010 Global MetroMonitor, The Brookings Institution, London School of Economics and Political Science.
In 2010, the City of Melbourne was one of three cities to gain an honourable mention in the inaugural Lee Kwan Yew World City Prize, awarded to individuals and organisations that have made outstanding contributions to the creation of vibrant and liveable communities around the world.
In 2011, Melbourne was ranked 17th most innovative city in the 2Thinknow top 100 Innovation Cities index.
Melbourne was recognised as Best Sports City in the 2009 Sport Business Sports Event Management Awards.
Melbourne was named a UNESCO City of Literature in 2008 – only the second city in the world to receive this accolade.
Melbourne is Australia’s fashion capital. The city has been named in the top seven most fashion-forward cities by leading New York fashion magazine Nylon (The Nylon Book of Global Style).
In a world study that evaluated cities on their efforts to improve sustainability including transportation, economy, environment, health, education, arts, recreation and innovation, Melbourne was ranked among the top 10 sustainable cities and was the only Australian city included (Ethisphere 2008).
2008 saw Melbourne beat Sydney as the nation’s most popular city for business travel for the third year in a row (wotif.com).

Almost 90,000 people from a wide range of cultures and backgrounds live in the municipality, which takes in the suburbs of Carlton, Docklands, East Melbourne, Kensington / Flemington, Melbourne and the CBD, North Melbourne, Parkville, Fishermans Bend (Port Melbourne), Southbank, parts of South Yarra and West Melbourne.

Melbourne includes many major parks and gardens including the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kings Domain (which contains Government House), Queen Victoria Gardens and Alexandra Gardens. The municipality also includes important sports facilities such as Olympic Park and Melbourne Park, home to a variety of sporting and entertainment events such as the Australian Open Tennis Championships. The Port of Melbourne is also located within the municipality, as are Flemington Racecourse and Royal Melbourne Showgrounds.