Western Australia attracted record numbers of interstate and international visitors in 2018 according to results from Tourism Research Australia.
The State attracted 2.58 million visitors from out of state (international and interstate visitors) in 2018, an increase of 11.4 per cent on 2017.
Results have also shown spending by out of state visitors is on the rise, up 6.5 per cent to $3.8 billion.
The figures are from the latest National Visitor Survey (NVS) for 2018 which was released, combined with the International Visitor Survey (IVS) for 2018 released in March 2019.
The NVS results alone showed a 17.8 per cent increase in interstate visitors to 1.61 million during 2018. This was the highest growth rate in the country.
Interstate nights and spend also increased compared to 2017, with interstate spend up 17.7 per cent to $1.62 billion and visitor nights up 4.7 per cent.
The NVS results also show more Western Australians are choosing to holiday at home, with the number of intrastate visitors at a four-year high.
The number of intrastate nights and spend were also up on 2018’s results for 2017.
Combined, the NVS and IVS data shows WA had 34.5 million visitors during 2018. This amount includes both overnight visitors and day trippers travelling to and within the State, and is a 15.8 per cent increase on 2018’s numbers for 2017.
The combined data also showed WA visitor spend totalled $10.4 billion for 2018, up 8.7 per cent from 2017.
Source: WA Government