Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events Stuart Ayres said the new data released today is a fantastic result for the State and shows NSW remains Australia’s most popular destination.

“For the first time international visitors spent more than $8 billion in NSW, providing a boost to the economy as tourists attended major events and visited the best tourism attractions in Sydney and across the Regions,” Mr Ayres said.

“Once again NSW has been confirmed as Australia’s most popular destination, with more than 3.3 million international visitors spending time in our great State, up a massive six per cent compared to last year.

“Victoria (2.3 million visitors) and Queensland (2.2 million) are miles behind, and we continue to show that our Government has the expertise to ensure NSW remains number one.”

International visitors also stayed 82.4 million nights in NSW, a rise of nine per cent compared to a year ago, according to the International Visitor Survey released by Tourism Research Australia.

There was significant growth in the number of visitors from China (up 21 per cent) and for the first time China visitor expenditure in NSW exceeded $2 billion for the year ($2.2 billion). China remains the top market for international visitors to NSW with 536,000 visitors followed by New Zealand, USA and the UK.

Destination NSW Chief Executive Officer Sandra Chipchase said there had been a number of world-class events that have attracted visitors from around the globe.

“These quality events secured and supported by Destination NSW include Matilda The Musical, the Netball World Cup, the 2015 Bledisloe Cup test match, Rally Australia in Coffs Harbour and the 2015 Blackmores Sydney Running Festival.”

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