Visitor numbers to regional WA bouncing back

Released recently by Tourism Research Australia, the 2018 figures show each of the four regional WA tourism areas recorded growth in the number of international visitors compared to the previous year.

Australia's Golden Outback and Australia's South West both received a record number of international visitors in 2018, attracting 60,100 and 195,100 international visitors respectively.

International visitation to Australia's North West and Australia's Coral Coast was also strong in 2018, attracting 62,900 and 86,700 international visitors respectively.

In total, a third of international visitors to WA (32 per cent, or 311,000) spent at least one night in regional WA in 2018. These visitors spent more than 5 million nights and $368 million in regional WA.

Tourism WA Managing Director Brodie Carr said it was a great achievement for each of the regions to have shown signs of recovery from what was a challenging year in 2017 and hoped the trend continued.

"Attractions such as the stunning Lucky Bay, colourful wildflowers, amazing wine regions and our pink lakes are just some examples of what regional WA has to offer visitors, and these figures show overseas travellers continue to be drawn to the regions to experience it for themselves," he said.

As a whole, the State achieved the strongest growth rate of international holiday visitors in the nation.

It was also the highest ever number of international holiday visitors to WA.

The State Government recently announced a $12 million new tourism package, aimed at enticing holiday-makers from key South East Asian markets and long-haul destinations to travel to the State.

For more about the International Visitor Survey results for WA read our corporate website story here, or find out more about the $12 million funding boost to promote WA to international visitors here.