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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Gerard Cockburn

Good news for Canberra as tourism spending increases more than 30%

School excursion favourite Questacon. Picture: Karleen Minney

Tourism spending in the ACT has jumped by almost a third despite major challenges around labour shortages.

New figures show tourism spending in Canberra has jumped 32 per cent compared to 2019 with $159 million more spent over the 2022 June quarter.

The total spend over the 2022 June quarter was $661 million. Nationally, quarterly tourism spending was up 29 per cent compared to 2019.

Tourism Minister Don Farrell said the industry was bouncing back despite ongoing challenges impacting the sector.

"The latest data from Tourism Research Australia, released today, shows that our tourism industry continues to bounce back strongly after the impacts of the pandemic," he said.

"There are still challenges to overcome, but it is excellent to see our regions doing so well as tourism recovers."

The data from Tourism Research Australia also showed 686,000 international visitors during the quarter came to Australia.

That is still only 37 per cent of the arrival numbers in the same quarter in 2019.

Indian visitors entered the top five of tourists, while Singaporeans also made the top five.

Trourism Minister Don Farrell. Picture: Dion Georgopoulos

The data found visiting friends and relatives were the main reason for travel to Australia.

"Tourism is not only a huge employer and a large export earner for Australia - it also promotes our unique cultural, geographical and biodiverse destinations," Mr Farrell said.

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