A surge led by Australians visiting Canberra for a holiday has contributed to overnight visitors breaking the 3 million mark for the first time ever along with record expenditure contribution to the ACT economy from combined domestic and international overnight markets of $2.56 billion.
Tourism Research Australia Visitor Survey data released today shows 3.07 million Australian and 270,853 international visitors came to the capital in the year ending September 2019 – a period that took in two weeks of the Floriade spring period. This represents an 8.1 per cent increase in domestic visitors and saw the ACT lead all other Australian states and territories in percentage growth for overnight international visitation.
The combined overnight expenditure received for the period surpasses the ACT’s Tourism 2020 target of reaching $2.5 billion by the end of December 2020, noting this figure may fluctuate across the year based on impediments to travel such as regional bushfires and general seasonal visitation trends.
A rise in people visiting for holidays and business bumped up the domestic numbers while growth in the leisure market of people coming for holidays and to visit family and friends contributed to the international growth.
International visitors increased by 8.8 per cent compared to the same period last year and ahead of the national average growth of 2.5 per cent. Our international visitors spent $601.9 million for the year ending September 2019.
For further information please contact VisitCanberra’s Associate Director Research and Consumer Insight; Peta Lemmon (peta.lemmon@act.gov.au)