Canberra continues to be a destination of choice with the latest national and international visitor survey data showing 5.57 million visitors to Canberra over the year to March 2023.
Canberra experienced the highest growth in domestic overnight visitation, overnight stays and expenditure of all Australian states and territories during the 12 month period.
Not only did visitors come in droves, they also spent up big with Canberra recording its highest ever visitor expenditure of $3.33 billion in a 12 month period, surpassing the record annual high reached for year ending December 2022 by $300 million.
This demonstrates we are on track to reach our target of $4 billion in expenditure by 2030 under T2030: ACT Tourism Strategy 2023-2030.
Of the 5.57 million visitors, 5.4 million were domestic and 130,000 were international visitors. Our international visitation is also set to increase with Fiji Airways due to start their direct service from Canberra this month which will open up the north American market.
The data shows that compared with December 2019 (pre-pandemic), the domestic leisure and visiting friends and relatives market is fully recovered. While the number of visitors coming for business is lower, their expenditure is higher.
The Government will continue to invest in initiatives that attract visitors and improve our destination appeal. This includes continuing our investment in the Aviation Stimulus Fund to attract more direct domestic and international flights to and from Canberra, extending the successful Tourism Product Development Fund for another year and supporting our year-round destination marketing.
