Western Australia brought in a record $14b tourism spend

By James Harrison

Western Australia achieved its highest ever annual visitor spend on record, with $14 billion spent in the WA economy by travellers in 2022.

Tourism Research Australia statistics released today show WA’s tourism recovery has led to a spending increase of $3.6 billion compared with 2021, and $500 million more than the previous record in 2019 before the pandemic.

Almost half of the record spend – about $6.8 billion – was injected into the regional WA economy.

“It is fantastic that we have set a new record of $14 billion for tourism spending,” WA tourism minister Roger Cook said.

“This is a huge injection into the WA economy, creating jobs and revenue right across the State. But we have ambitions to do much, much more.”

The spend included $2.84 billion in the South-West, $1.75 billion in the North-West, almost $1.1 billion in the Coral Coast and $1 billion in Golden Outback.

“These results show just how much momentum we have as a sought after tourism destination,” Cook added.

Interstate visitors spent $123 million more in WA in 2022 than in 2019, and from April to December 2022, WA was the top-performing State for growth in interstate leisure visitors, which was up 13 per cent compared with 2019.

Fortescue River in Millstream Chichester National Park in the Pilbara region Western Australia (iStock/chameleonseye)

WA was also a standout in bringing back international visitors, with nearly 380,000 overseas visitors coming to the state from April – December 2022. Half of WA’s international visitors came from the State’s top four global markets – the United Kingdom, Singapore, New Zealand and India.

The India market saw the strongest recovery, with visitor numbers just 5 per cent behind pre-COVID levels, increasing its rank to the 4th top market from 9th in April – December 2019.

“With our new global tourism brand Walking On A Dream, an incredible line up of major events, 13 new direct flights to Perth and huge developments in our incredible natural assets and attractions, the eyes of the world are on Western Australia,” Cook concluded.

Tourism Research Australia’s International and National Visitor Survey results are the official sources of visitor statistics for Australia.

Featured Image: Pink lake in Perth, Western Australia (iStock/Limin Xiao)

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