Tourism is one of Tasmania’s greatest competitive advantages, and today’s Tourism Research Australia data demonstrates how the strength of the sector is helping to grow our economy and create jobs.
The latest TRA figures, from 2017-18, show the number of direct and indirect jobs in the tourism industry in Tasmania has grown 7.8 per cent to 42,800. This is the second highest growth in the country and well above the national average of 5.3 per cent.
The data also shows Tourism contributed around $3.2 billion, or over 10 per cent of Tasmania’s Gross State Product, up 9.1 per cent from the previous year.
Our whole State benefits significantly from tourism, across a range of businesses from accommodation providers, travel agencies, tour operators, cafes, restaurants, bars and retail.
Our plan to grow regional tourism is working with 67 per cent of visitors now spending at least one night outside of the greater Hobart area, which is exceeding expectations. Visitor spending is also at record highs, reaching $2.49 billion in the year to March 2019, again ahead of our scheduled target.
Preliminary work has now begun on developing the next strategic plan to guide future growth in the tourism industry, so that even more Tasmanians across the state can benefit from our strong visitor economy.