Tasmania continues to shine as the nation’s premier tourism state with new figures showing a 16 per cent increase in international visitors to our shores, higher than the national increase of nine per cent and the highest rate of international growth for all Australian states and territories.
The International Visitor Survey reports that we welcomed 250,300 international visitors during the year to March 2017, the highest number of international arrivals ever.
International visitor expenditure in Tasmania increased by 21 per cent to $424 million and visitor nights increased by nine per cent to 3.62 million.
There has been strong growth in visitors from China (up 35 per cent), the United Kingdom (up four per cent), the USA (up 20 per cent) and Hong Kong (up 11 per cent)
Our share of all international visitors to Australia was 3.2 per cent, up from three per cent for the same time the previous year.
These are great results and testament to the hard work of the tourism and hospitality sectors and a fruitful partnership working with the majority Liberal Government.
Our strong support for the Tasmanian visitor economy continues with a $37 million investment through the State Budget 2017-18 to build on unprecedented tourism growth, which supports local businesses and jobs right around the State.
The Tasmanian Liberal Government is a massive supporter of tourism, and we have consistently increased Tourism Tasmania's marketing funding, this year amounting to $18 million, to continue the boom in our visitor economy.
Note: The Tasmanian Visitor Survey results are due later this month.