Western Australians opted to spend their free time travelling within the state last year, with Rottnest Island visitor numbers reaching their highest on record between July and December.
Western Australians opted to spend their free time travelling within the state last year, with Rottnest Island visitor numbers reaching their highest on record between July and December.
According to the latest figures from Tourism Research Australia, Western Australians took over 18 million day trips around the state in the 12 months to September last year, injecting nearly $1.9 billion into the local economy.
Tourism Minister Kim Hames said it was no surprise that the highest growth area for intrastate visitation in WA was in the holiday-leisure segment, up 26.5 per cent on last year for day trips, and up 10.7 per cent for overnight trips, or an extra 277,000 stays, well above the national average.
“In the 12 months to September, the number of intrastate overnight visitors increased by 12 per cent to 6.8 million visitors, and the number of nights increased almost 17 per cent to 27.9 million,” Dr Hames said.
He added the amount spent by intrastate overnight visitors increased by 17 per cent to nearly $3.5 million, with an average spend per visitor of $509.
“As at year ended September 2015, the total visitor spend in WA reached $8.9 billion, up from $8.1 billion the year prior so we’re on track to reach the State Government’s target of $12 billion in visitor spend by 2020,” he said.
Dr Hames said this year Tourism WA would launch a new campaign aimed at key domestic and international markets as part of the state government’s $24 million in extra funding over four years for tourism marketing.
“Perth is going through a once-in-a-lifetime revitalisation so it’s time we refreshed our tourism marketing to celebrate our natural and built attractions, positioning Perth as a safe destination of choice and gateway to the rest of the State,” he said.
A marketing campaign will also be launched to attract people to Rottnest Island in the quieter time after Australia Day, and to showcase it as a wedding and/or honeymoon destination.
“Rottnest has shown strong growth in off-peak and shoulder periods with statistics compiled by ferry operators and independent research indicating an influx of winter visitors compared with 2014,” Dr Hames said.
“July and October saw the biggest spikes with an increase of 43.5 per cent and 33.5 per cent respectively compared with the same time the year prior.
“That’s a total of more than 50,400 visitors just for those two months, up from 37,000.”
The minister said WA continued to lead the nation in cruise sector growth with visiting ships generating more than $275 million in 2014-15, a $159 million increase on the previous year.