Peter Gutwein,Premier
We know that Tasmania's tourism industry is world class, with the quality of our attractions and our unique experiences setting us apart from the rest of the world.
Despite border restrictions affecting some of our key domestic markets and visitor numbers restricted due to COVID-19, pleasingly figures from the December 2021 quarter show positive growth in average spend per domestic visitor.
In fact, every month of 2021 recorded higher than average spend per domestic visitor (ASPV) compared to the same months in 2019.
October 2021 recorded significantly higher average spend per interstate visitor of $3,450, up 206 per cent, compared to the same month in 2019, and total interstate spend for the December quarter 2021 was 54 per cent above the level of the spend for the December quarter 2019.
Interstate average spend per visitor for the December quarter 2021 was the highest for any December quarter on record at $2,796 per visitor, which is 55 per cent higher than the December quarter 2019.
Higher visitor expenditure was largely driven by holiday visitors, which consistently spent more per visitor for each month compared to 2019 and the average domestic holiday spend was $4,142 per person, up from $2,668 in the December 2019 quarter.
This aligns to our plan for tourism to see visitors seeing more of our State and spending more while they are here.
These incredible results are testament to Tasmania's vibrant tourism and hospitality sector, who have shown immense resilience and remained agile since the start of the pandemic.
While we recognise that COVID-19 has presented challenges, supports and stimulus put in place by the Government have ensured that our businesses stood ready for the reopening of our borders.
Tasmania's strong recovery demonstrates that this plan is working.
