Minister Barr: Tourism continues to boom as CBR smashes international visitor record
- Written by ACT Government
Released 01/09/2016
Canberra continues to smash records in international tourism, recording the highest number of international visitors and expenditure ever.
These are fantastic results just three weeks before the start of direct international flights between Canberra, Singapore and Wellington.
The ACT has recorded the highest growth rate of international visitors in Australia for the year ending June 2016, according to the latest International Visitor Survey data released yesterday.
The ACT also welcomed a record 203,095 visitors, an increase of 13.4 per cent and the first time visitor numbers have exceeded 200,000.
The Tourism Research Australia report showed visitor spend while in the ACT was up 16.4 per cent to $420 million, which was ahead of the national average of 14.0 per cent and a record spend for the ACT.
Today’s results reflect the ACT Government’s commitment to growing the visitor economy to $2.5 billion by 2020. VisitCanberra’s One Good Thing After Another marketing positioning and enhanced international engagement, including cooperative work with Singapore Airlines ahead of first direct flights, are all contributing to these strong results.
China continues to be the ACT’s number one source market recording a 38.6 per cent increase followed by the United States of America (up 26.6 per cent), the United Kingdom (up 8.2 per cent), New Zealand (up 14.9 per cent) and Singapore (up 40.9 per cent). Direct international flights will make it even easier for tourists from these key countries to visit Canberra. Increases were also recorded for India, France and Indonesia.
I look forward to seeing our international visitor numbers and expenditure continue to grow when the first Singapore Airlines flight lands in Canberra on 21 September.
- Statement ends -
Section: Andrew Barr, MLA | Media Releases
