Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events Stuart Ayres said National Visitor Survey data released by Tourism Research Australia shows efforts to drive tourism growth to regions across our state are working.
“This year domestic holiday visitors to regional NSW grew by 10 per cent with holiday interstate visitors up by 17.3 per cent, the majority of growth from Queensland,” Mr Ayres said.
“This is fantastic news for our regional hotels, restaurants and businesses. Importantly this growth in tourism means more jobs for Regional NSW, and with Summer here, and more regional events to come, these results are expected to continue.
“In total, more than 29 million domestic visitors travelled to NSW, staying 94 million nights, and spending $16.5 billion with 60 per cent of this expenditure in our regions.”
Outback NSW, Snowy Mountains and North Coast regions recorded strong increases in visitation and expenditure for the year, with visitors up by 28 per cent, 16 per cent and 11 per cent respectively. Visitor growth and spend was fuelled by holiday travellers.
Other regions reporting strong visitation growth included New England North West (+15 per cent), the Blue Mountains (+14 per cent) and the Hunter (+9 per cent). Riverina also achieved substantial growth of 37 per cent in visitor expenditure for the year.
Destination NSW Chief Executive Officer Sandra Chipchase welcomed the strong growth which points to an even stronger year ahead for regional tourism.
“The industry is booming here in NSW and we want to ensure every region across the state benefits from targeted efforts, including our marketing campaigns which are working to increase visitation right across Regional NSW”, Ms Chipchase said.
Today’s strong National Visitor Survey results come as the NSW Government announces the new Destination Network Boards, which will be fundamental in growing a stronger regional visitor economy.
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