An increase in the number of business and employment visitors to Western Australia has fuelled the strong growth in international visitor numbers and expenditure in 2007, according to the latest data.
An increase in the number of business and employment visitors to Western Australia has fuelled the strong growth in international visitor numbers and expenditure in 2007, according to the latest data.
The quarterly International Visitor Survey, released by Tourism Research Australia, showed international visitor expenditure in WA reached $1.6 billion for the 2007 calendar year, up from $1.3 billion in 2006.
Most of the spending, or about $1.4 billion, was in Perth, which was ranked third of capital cities in terms of expenditure, after Sydney and Melbourne.
Total international visitor numbers to WA increased by 5.1 per cent on the previous year to reach 656,000, eclipsing the national average of almost 2 per cent.
While the number of visitors arriving in WA for a holiday declined almost 2 per cent, visitor numbers for business and employment jumped 10 per cent and 55 per cent respectively in the past year.
Those two categories also experience the strongest increase in visitor nights, at 16.5 per cent and 42.1 per cent respectively.
The number of international visitors arriving in WA for employment has doubled over the past three years, reaching more than 28,000 in 2007 and comprising about 4 per cent of total visitors.
The overall leisure market, a combination of holiday makers and tourists visiting friends and family, rose 2.5 per cent in 2007.
Tourism Council of WA chief executive Scott Henderson said the figures indicated that the industry’s key strategy on increasing yields was working, with visitors staying for longer and spending more.
“One of the key strategies in the tourism industry is to improve yields from visitors as opposed to just having more and more visitors,” he said.
Mr Henderson said improved yields were likely to attract further investment into WA’s tourism sector, including the development of tourism infrastructure.
“The investment of infrastructure has got to keep up with the numbers,” he said.
WA experienced a 23 per cent increase in visitor expenditure, more than double the average national increase of roughly 10 per cent.
Expenditure per visitor rose from $2,098 in 2006 to $2,457 in 2007.
A quarter of international visitors to WA originate from UK, making it by far the state’s biggest market.
Singapore, New Zealand, Japan and US round out the top five international markets.
Singapore was the state’s fastest growing international market, most likely a result of the introduction of Tiger Airways’ Singapore to Perth service in early 2007.
Visitor numbers from the US rose almost 20 per cent to 43,000 on 2006, Japan remained on par, while visitor numbers from the UK fell almost 5 per cent.
