More tourists will soon be visiting Victoria, with the state welcoming back large cruise ships and a major US airline reintroducing direct flights between Melbourne and Los Angeles.

On Thursday, 2500 people arrived aboard the Coral Princess, the first large vessel to dock in Melbourne since the beginning of the pandemic.

The liner is the sister ship of the Ruby Princess, which was the source of one of Australia’s largest COVID-19 outbreaks in 2020 and linked to 28 deaths.

It came as United Airlines revealed that from late October it would operate three flights a week between Tullamarine and Los Angeles before flying daily services from December.

The popular route between San Francisco and Melbourne will also be flown daily from late October.

United will eventually run 40 per cent more flights between the US and Tullamarine than before the pandemic.

More than 1.46 million people are expected to travel through Melbourne Airport during the upcoming school holidays.

– AAP