Guess how many overnight visitors NSW had last year?

New South Wales saw over 33 million overnight visitors in the past 12 months, staying more than 183 million nights in the state overall.

The stats come from the International and National Visitor Surveys and look at the year ending December 2016.

State tourism and events agency, Destination NSW, reckons growth in overnight visitation to NSW is giving a much needed boost to the accommodation sector.

Destination NSW Chief Executive Officer Sandra Chipchase said this week’s Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) was a great opportunity to showcase both new and refurbished hotels.

“New and refurbished hotels by the harbour, luxury makeovers and quality boutique offerings are giving visitors to Sydney and regional NSW just what they want – accommodation in desirable locations, with a choice of styles and price points,” she said.

“Sky-high confidence in the visitor economy is driving the hotel boom with 7,800 new and refurbished hotel rooms under construction or approved for development and open for business by 2022.

“Our State is undergoing a major transformation to meet the growing demands from international markets, providing NSW hotels and operators with more opportunities than ever before to attract visitors.

“With occupancy rates rising from 75 per cent in to 76.3 per cent in the December quarter 2016, driven primarily by occupancy rate increases in regional NSW (66.4 per cent, up from 62.6 per cent), our State is leading the country when it comes to accommodation supply, demand and revenue takings.

“From Sydney to the Blue Mountains, the South Coast to up North, and out to Country NSW, we are seeing major refurbishments of heritage sites, to brand new beachfront pavilions and self-catering options as part of this hotel boom, and we look forward to highlighting the best of these exciting developments during ATE,” she added.

On top of the accommodation boom, other major infrastructure projects are underway including the harbourside development at Barangaroo, the Western Sydney Airport, significant upgrades to Sydney Airport and the planned regeneration of The Bays Precinct, a waterfront space in the inner west.