News
Tasmania Defies National Trend
Posted on Tuesday, 22 December 2009 | Permalink
The Tourism Industry says Tasmania continues to defy the national trend by recording a strong increase in visitor numbers and expenditure in the past year.
Tourism Industry Coucil of Tasmania Chief Executive Officer Daniel Hanna said today the latest Tasmanian Visitor Survey (TVS) figures showing an overall four per cent increase in visitor numbers on the previous year was nothing short of incredible in the current national operating environment.
The TVS showed 917,100 scheduled air and sea visitors to Tasmania in the year to September 2009 and a total of 1.04 million when cruise ship and navy visitors were included.
“When you consider that just 10 years ago Tasmania was attracting less than 500,000 visitors, you get an idea of how successful we have been and how important the tourism industry is to the State’s overall economic performance. Tasmania is now the most tourism intensive state in the nation, with a greater proportion of the economy and employment due to tourism than any other state,” Mr Hanna said.
The TVS also showed that Tasmania recorded a five per cent increase in visitors during the traditionally quieter months of July, August and September when compared with last year.
“Anecdotally that is the story we’re getting from tourism operators and it is great that we’re starting to shrink Tasmania’s off-peak season and better spread visitation over the whole year,” Mr Hanna said.
“However, in summer we’re starting to hit full capacity, especially in Hobart which is a gateway to the State. We will need to do more to encourage the development of tourism accommodation to avoid a room shortage acting as a constraint to further growth,” he said.
Mr Hanna said Tasmania was faring better than other Australian destinations because it had carried out consistent and effective marketing over many years, developing a strong brand in key markets. Tasmania is also primarily a leisure destination and this market has held up better than business travel during the global slowdown.
