Chinese visitors are heading to Tasmania in record numbers as part of a tourism boom boosted by interstate pleasure-seekers.
Chinese tourism figures soared 73 per cent last year and international visits were up 11 per cent, a Tourism Research Australia survey shows.
Tourism bosses welcomed the figures and pointed out NSW and Victorian residents were choosing Tasmania over traditional holiday playgrounds Bali and Fiji.
Premier and Tourism Minister Will Hodgman said excitement about the visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Hobart in November would continue to have flow-on effects for the state.
More than 24,000 Chinese visited Tasmania in the year to December.
“The visit was followed by millions of people online and watched by hundreds of millions through news broadcasts, generating unparalleled exposure,” Mr Hodgman said.
“I’m confident the record visitor figures will continue to grow further as our friendship with China strengthens following our China trade mission in March and the second to come in August.
“International visitors injected over $265 million into our economy, an increase of 9 per cent.”
In the year to December, 177,100 overseas visitors came to Tasmania, an increase of 11 per cent.
The survey showed that of overseas visitors, 136,500 were holiday-makers — a jump of 20 per cent.
Tourism Industry Council Tasmania chief executive Luke Martin said the Chinese visitors were the “cream on top”.
A baby Tasmanian devil was a hit with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Madame Peng.
“A good story is that people from Victoria and NSW are choosing to come here instead of Bali and Fiji,” Mr Martin said.
He said Tasmanian visitor surveys showed interstate visitors were the state’s “bread and butter”.
“If we are to get 1.5 million [visitors] that is going to be people from Sydney, Melbourne and Southeast Queensland, people coming for MONA and food and wine,” Mr Martin said.
He said the New Zealand, US, British and German markets continued to be soft, but they were being replaced by Asian visitors. The survey showed international visitors to Australia increased 8 per cent to 6.4 million visitors and spending rose to $31.1 billion.
“Given the current record performance, coupled with the lower Australian dollar, our proximity to the growth markets of Asia, and continued economic recovery in Western markets, the outlook for inbound travel remains positive,” Tourism Research Australia assistant general manager Spiro Kavadias said.
“The tourism industry is in a good position to attain its Tourism 2020 goal of increasing overnight tourism expenditure to between $115 billion and $140 billion by 2020.”
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