New figures from Tourism Research Australia (TRA) show New South Wales to be leading the nation’s tourism industry.
The figures were released as part of TRA’s State Tourism Satellite Account 2017-2018 report which sets out tourism consumption, tourism Gross State Product (GSP), tourism Gross Value Added (GVA) and tourism employment to measure the impact of the industry.
Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney, Stuart Ayres said the report showed that tourism was one of the State’s champion industries with record-breaking economic contribution and employment across the sector.
“The results show that NSW’s contribution to tourism in Australia is invaluable, and locally the industry has a huge impact on our economy,” Mr Ayres said.
“Tourism directly employs 182,900 people – equal to one in 22 jobs – in New South Wales, up almost 7,800 people on 2016-17.”
He said visitors to NSW consumed $42.5 billion in goods and services, accounting for 30 per cent of Australia’s total tourism consumption.
He said the report showed NSW received its highest tourism consumption, tourism GSP, tourism GVA and tourism employment since 2006-07; domestic visitors contributed the most towards NSW tourism; and that tourism was the sixth largest industry for employment in the State.
“These numbers are a clear demonstration that the NSW Government strategy to grow and support the visitor economy in NSW is bang on target,” Mr Ayres said.