Tourists spending spree hits record $38.8 billion

Tourists spending spree hits record $38.8 billion

Of all nationalities visiting Australia, Chinese, Korean and Japanese tourists account for almost a third of all tourist spending in the country.

Tourism Research Australia revealed Chinese travellers led the pack spending in excess of $9 billion, combined with its Asian counterparts from Japan and Korea are together worth $12.3 billion to the Australian economy.

As a whole, tourists to Australia for the year up to September spent a record $38.8 billion, amounting to an 11% increase, equal to $4 billion more than last year according to the International Visitor Survey results.

NSW continues to dominate the rest of Australia in attracting international visitors with more than 20% more arrivals from key markets including China, the USA and South Korea, contributing $9.3 billion in visitor expenditure to the economy.

Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events Stuart Ayres said the number of international tourists arriving in a single year is nearing the population of Sydney, with this unprecedented growth showing no sign of slowing down in 2017.

“NSW is exactly where our international guests want their heads to hit beds, with 3.8 million internationals staying 87.1 million nights, representing a 16% increase in the tourist dollar spent year on year,” Ayres said.

“NSW remains Australia’s most popular destination for international visitors – and rightly so.”

 

Regional tourism has seen a 7.1% growth overall in international visitation – 8.5% more internationals headed to the North Coast, 19.3% more to Central NSW and the Central Coast, 38.9% to the Riverina and 13.7% more visited the Blue Mountains.

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