Record Tasmanian Visitor Numbers

18 March 2009

Tasmania has bucked the national trend of a softening domestic travel climate, and posted strong visitor growth in 2008, the Minister for Tourism, Michelle O’Byrne said today.

Ms O’Byrne said the latest Tasmanian Visitor Survey figures for the 2008 calendar year, show that visitor numbers were up nine per cent, visitor nights were up five per cent and expenditure levels were up 12 per cent compared with 2007 – all to record levels.

“The record number of visitors, nights and spending is great news for Tasmania and Tasmania’s tourism operators.

“These results signal a strong performance by Tasmania, particularly in light of the global financial challenges that unfolded during September 2008.”

Ms O’Byrne said in contrast to Tasmania’s positive performance, domestic overnight travel activity at the national level was weaker in 2008 according to the National Visitor Survey results also released today.

“At a national level, domestic overnight trips fell by four per cent, visitor nights declined by six per cent and the overnight spend grew by two per cent.

“The TVS shows that 897,100 people visited Tasmania on scheduled air and sea services in 2008, and when cruise ship visitors are included, this number climbs to more than nine hundred thousand people coming to Tasmania.

“In addition, expenditure in Tasmania grew to $1.48 billion.

“Tasmania also continued to perform strongly as a leisure destination with growth in holiday visitors up 16 per cent and those visiting friends and relatives up 11 per cent.”

Ms O’Byrne said that in addition to the increased number of visitors last year, Tasmania also enjoyed an increase in national advertising awareness, according to the Roy Morgan Research Holiday Tracking Survey for the December 2008 quarter.

The survey showed that almost 17 per cent of the interstate population were aware of Tasmania’s tourism advertising, without any prompting. The only other State to achieve a positive growth for the quarter was New South Wales with just over 12 per cent.

“This is a strong endorsement for the State Government’s commitment to Tasmania’s tourism industry through Tourism Tasmania’s innovative marketing strategy.

“What is particularly pleasing is that the Roy Morgan Survey also showed increases in terms of preference for a holiday to Tasmania, and intention to travel to Tasmania for a holiday in the coming 12 months.

“These numbers show Tasmania is continuing to punch above its weight, and further support the feedback we have received from the Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania and industry operators indicating a very good season over December and January, and solid bookings until after Easter.”

Ms O’Byrne said while the latest figures are a positive sign for Tasmanian tourism, prevailing global economic conditions mean this is a challenging and volatile time for Australia’s tourism industry.

“We would be naïve to think Tasmania will not be impacted by these global market conditions, but the figures show we are heading into this difficult period in a relatively strong position and are well-placed to ride out the challenges ahead.”

The TVS is conducted with interviews and a self-completion questionnaire of targeted passengers as they depart at Tasmanian ports, and has a sample size of around 9,000 interstate visitors to Tasmania per year.

Detailed information on the Tasmanian Visitor Survey for the quarter ending and year ending December 2008 can be found under Research Snapshots in this website.

Further information: Rohan Wade (03) 6336 2443 or 0417 051 255