Domestic Visitors Spend Record $16 Billion in NSW
- Written by Rhys Haynes
Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events Stuart Ayres has welcomed new figures showing NSW has streaked further ahead as the nation's Number One tourism destination with domestic visitors spending a record $16 billion last year.
According to Tourism Research Australia's National Visitor Survey for 2015, NSW attracted 28.1 million visitors from across Australia during 2015, up 4.4 per cent on the previous year, who stayed 91.1 million nights (up 4.1%) and spent $16.1 billion (up 5.1%).
“This is fantastic news, tourism creates jobs in hotels, restaurants and world class attractions and provides a huge boost to the state's economy. For the first time our guests spent more than $16 billion in Sydney and across Regional NSW,” Mr Ayres said.
“NSW received 8 million more domestic visitors than Queensland and 6.5 million more visitors than Victoria – clearly we are outshining the rest of Australia.”
“Regional NSW also recorded an increase with 19.5 million visitors (a 2.3 per cent rise) who stayed 66.3 million nights and spent $9.3 billion for the year,” Mr Ayres said.
Destination NSW Chief Executive Officer Sandra Chipchase said the agency's ongoing partnership activities, marketing campaigns and securing of key events continues to drive increased domestic visitor numbers.
“We are very pleased our recent destination campaigns focusing on the Hunter, South Coast and Central Coast Regions, as well as a NSW-wide caravan and camping campaign have helped to boost visitor numbers,” Ms Chipchase said.
Some of the events held in NSW in recent months that have attracted visitors from across Australia include the V8 Supercars Sydney 500, Extreme Sailing Series on Sydney Harbour, Junior World Gliding Championships at Narromine, Aria Week and Aria Awards, the AACTA Awards, Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht race, Emirates Australian Golf Open, NRL Grand Final, Eden Whale Festival, Orange Wine Festival, Taste Riverina Festival, and Deni Ute Muster.