Tasmania has topped the nation with the single greatest increase in international travellers of any state and territory in Australia, and they’re staying longer and spending more too.
Today’s Tourism Research Australia figures reveal Tasmania has recorded a 28 per cent increase in international visitors in the 12 months to March, with 197,600 travellers arriving.
What this shows is more and more international visitors bound for Australia have our island in their sights and are snapping up boarding passes bound for Tassie.
The largest growth overall was in holiday makers, with 150,800 taking a trip to our beautiful state, an increase of 33 per cent on the previous year.
It is also extremely pleasing to see those travelling for education was up 48 per cent to 5,900, which once again highlights our international standing as a leading educator.
The number of holiday nights increased by 50 per cent to 1.82 million with the average length of stay increasing by 15 per cent to 12 nights. Visitor nights overall increased 37 per cent to 3.4 million, with the average length of stay increasing to 17 nights.
Expenditure by international visitors rose by 42 per cent to a total of $304 million, with the average spend increasing per international visitor to more than $1500.
Our key visitor markets were China and Hong Kong, up 49 per cent and 38 per cent respectively, which highlights the exposure our State has received off the back of President Xi Jinping’s historic visit, the TasInvest summit and the recent trade mission to China.
We are supporting our tourism sector with an additional $8 million in this year’s State Budget to provide an immediate boost for tourism marketing and industry development, on top of the additional $4 million a year we are investing in marketing.
The eyes of the world are now on Tasmania and the Government is building on that momentum to drive visitor numbers to our target of 1.5 million by 2020, which the industry says will create 8,000 new jobs.