WA tourist numbers rise in January

Passenger numbers flying to regional areas in the state have fallen dramatically in January while overseas tourists heading to Western Australia have jumped 26 per cent.

Latest figures from the federal government show the number of inbound and outbound passengers flying with WA's regional airlines dropped over 20 per cent each as compared to figures recorded in December last year.

In total, 28,734 people flew with the regional airlines, down 21 per cent from December's 36,521. It was a similar fall compared to January 2008 numbers with 35,603 passengers.

In the international space, there were 145,541 passengers that touched down in WA, up from the previous month's 115,682.

Outbound wise, there was a 15.5 per cent fall in the amount of people leaving the state with numbers falling from 136,550 to 115,339.

For major domestic airlines, 270,071 passengers left the state, down 1.6 per cent while outbound figures revealed a 1.3 per cent lift to 273,723.

Overall, total passengers travelling from WA's airports were relatively stable, dipping slightly from 833,591 to 833,408.

The total number of inbound passengers rose from 408,752 to 429,961 while outbound passengers dropped from 424,839 to 403,447.

Nationally, the total number of passengers flying rose from 10.55 million to 10.58 million with inbound figures up nearly 4 per cent to 5.4 million while a 3 per cent fall to 5.19 million was recorded for outbound passengers.