WE HAVE TRUMPED HAWAII

AUSTRALIANS have bought more travel books about Tasmania this year than guides about Hawaii, the US and South America — a sign of just how popular our state has become as a tourist destination.

As official new figures reveal 1.26 million tourists visited Tasmania last year, online retailer Amazon said only Japan and Europe were more popular than Tassie when it came to online purchases of travel books.

Tourism Industry Council Tasmania chief executive Luke Martin said it was great news, but his priority was “less about visitor growth, but spending”.

Tourism Minister, Premier Will Hodgman, said the travel boom was proving to be good news for the entire state — with growth in every region.

TASMANIA has been ranked in the top three best destinations in the world by Australian travellers, mixing it with Japan, Europe, the US and South America.

Amazon.com.au has ranked Tasmania at number three in its top 10 Easter travel destinations based on travel book sales on its Australian site since December.

The Apple Isle came in behind top-ranked Japan and then Europe but proved to be more popular than Hawaii, Italy, India, US, Australia, South America and Spain. The ranking came as Tasmanian Visitor Survey results revealed a 2 per cent increase in overall visitors to Tasmania last calendar year, jumping to a record 1.26 million tourists.

The results, commissioned by Tourism Tasmania, showed visitor spending rose 8 per cent to a record $2.32 billion, with each visitor spending on average $216 per night. Total nights was also up 1 per cent.

The East Coast had the biggest visitor growth for regions, with growth of 10 per cent.

The survey also found visitor growth in the North was up 3 per cent, the South 2 per cent and the Cradle Mountain area 1 per cent.

People visiting friends or relatives was up 5 per cent, while holiday travel was up 4 per cent. Business travel was down 5 per cent.

However, Tourism Industry Council Tasmania chief executive Luke Martin said the 2 per cent rise in visitors was less than growth from 2016, which increased 5 per cent on 2015.

“We will monitor it over the TVS results over the next six months,” he said.

“Leisure was very strong and the regions were strong and were outperforming Hobart. We want to grow [numbers and spending] but we’re not looking at mass tourism.

“It’s now less about visitor growth but spending ... and visitors are spending most out into the regional areas.

“[But] Hobart was very full over the summer which is starting to be a challenge [in terms of] accommodation and full hotels. There are more flights needed.”

New direct flights from Adelaide and the Gold Coast contributed to 12 per cent growth from the South Australian market and an 11 per cent in- crease from the Queensland market last year.

Premier and Tourism Minister Will Hodgman was buoyed by the news.

“The entire state is sharing the benefits with tourism growth recorded in every region, meaning visitors are travelling further afield and spending money outside our major cities,” he said.

The growth follows news earlier this month from the 2017 International Visitor Survey, which revealed an 18 per cent growth in overseas visitors to 279,000, who spent $497 million.