Melbourne’s Chinatown businesses are getting a new digital platform, a custom app, and a business awards ceremony, backed by $100,000 in Victorian Government funding.
What’s happening: The Victorian Government has announced $100,000 in funding for the Melbourne Chinatown Business Association to develop a website and app promoting local businesses in the precinct.
Why this matters: The funding puts a tangible asset, a dedicated app and platform, directly in the hands of traders to help convert interest into visits.
Melbourne’s Chinatown has long been one of the city’s most recognisable small business precincts. It hosts one of Australia’s most attended Lunar New Year celebrations, drawing more than 200,000 people to its annual festival of street performances, food stalls, lion and dragon dancing, and cultural events. But for the traders who operate there year-round, visibility beyond the festival period is the ongoing challenge.
A $100,000 grant from the Victorian Government, announced by Minister for Small Business and Employment Natalie Suleyman, is aimed directly at that gap.
Digital tools for local traders
The funding will be provided to the Melbourne Chinatown Business Association, which will use it to build a dedicated website and mobile app for the precinct. The platform will include business profiles, interactive maps, event information, and exclusive promotions, giving both locals and visitors a direct way to discover and engage with traders in the area.
A business awards ceremony, scheduled for later in 2026, is also included in the funding, designed to recognise the contributions of local traders.
Melbourne Chinatown Business Association President Christina Zhao welcomed the investment. “This grant represents a strong commitment to supporting small businesses and strengthening Melbourne’s multicultural economy,” she said. “Through this funding, MCBA will continue delivering programs that drive visitation, business confidence and long-term growth for Chinatown traders.”
A platform built for the precinct
The practical case for a dedicated digital platform is clear in the broader context of how visitors are behaving in Melbourne. Tourism spending in Victoria surged to a record $43.7 billion in the year ending June 2025, driven by a 20% jump in international visitor spend, with China remaining Victoria’s top market at $3.1 billion. Those visitors are arriving with smartphones and expectations of digital discovery, and a well-built local app directly addresses that. As Dynamic Business has reported on the challenge facing hospitality and retail SMEs in Melbourne and other CBDs, the shift to hybrid work has reduced the kind of incidental customer visits that once underpinned precinct-based businesses.
A mobile app with business profiles, maps and promotions is a direct response to that dynamic, helping traders reach people who are actively planning where to go, rather than waiting for them to walk past.
More than a festival moment
The annual Chinatown festival, which falls within a broader cultural season that includes Spring Festival, Tết and Seollal, is already an established driver of visitation. More than a quarter of the world celebrates this season through festivals of various kinds, and Melbourne’s Chinatown is a focal point of those celebrations in Victoria each year.
The association’s free public festival includes a street party, food stalls, cultural performances, live music, and family-friendly activities that draw well beyond the immediate community. The new digital platform is designed to extend that engagement, giving visitors a reason to return and a way to stay connected with traders and events throughout the year.
Minister for Multicultural Affairs Ingrid Stitt framed the funding in terms of the broader role these businesses play. “Multicultural businesses are at the heart of our state’s vibrant diversity,” she said, “which is why we will always support them, including right here in Chinatown.”
Part of a bigger commitment
The Chinatown grant forms part of the Victorian Government’s $17 million Supporting our Multicultural Traders and Precincts initiative, which directs funding across a range of multicultural business communities across the state.
For small business owners, the value of this kind of initiative extends beyond the dollar figure. For Chinatown traders who may not individually have the resources to build their own digital presence, a shared precinct platform effectively gives every business access to a tool they could not easily develop alone.
Minister Suleyman put it plainly: “Our state’s multicultural businesses power our economy, creating jobs, trade and opportunities right across the state.”
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