The latest Tasmanian tourism figures are a "mixed bag", according to the boss of the state's peak tourism body.
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The amount of money visitors are spending in Tasmania is exceeding government expectations but the state's tourism agency says the latest statistics reflect a continued "slowing" of visitor growth.
Tourism Tasmania's most recent Tourism Snapshot - informed by figures from the Tasmanian Tourism Survey, the International Visitor Survey and the National Visitor Survey - shows that tourists spent $2.49 billion (+5 per cent) in the state in the year to March 2019.
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This increase in tourist spend exceeds the target of reaching $2.47 billion in 2020, set under the state government's T21 Visitor Economy Strategy.
While the 1.32 million visitors to the state in the past year represented a 3 per cent growth, the Tourism Snapshot noted that visitor growth continued to slow.
Holiday visitors were also down 1 per cent, which Tourism Industry Council Tasmania chief executive Luke Martin said would be "a bit of a wake-up call" for industry and government.
"We need a bit of a cold shower about the rate of visitor growth," Mr Martin said.
He cited recent bushfires, economic uncertainty around the federal election and house prices in Sydney and Melbourne as potential reasons for the faltering growth in interstate visitor numbers.
But Mr Martin said the fact that spending had reached the T21 target 21 months ahead of schedule was "a huge achievement".
"Our [visitor] volume's clearly softening but our spend is continuing to grow," Mr Martin said.
Premier Will Hodgman, who is also the state Tourism Minister, celebrated the news about visitor spend, but said the state could not afford to become "complacent".
"Whilst there has been growth in the number of visitors ... it reminds us that at 3 per cent, we need to do more to hit our targets," he said.
"Now's not the time to take the foot off the pedal when it comes to tourism."
Tourists spent 10.62 million visitor nights in Tasmania, down 2 per cent on the previous year.
Interstate visitors jumped by 5 per cent, with 1.12 million visitors enjoying all the state has to offer.
Victorians couldn't get enough of Tasmania, accounting for 43 per cent of interstate visitors. A 9 per cent uptick in Victorian visitors saw 474,600 of them flock to the state.
Meanwhile, international visitors remained steady at 298,900. However, these visitors spent less money ($490 million) while they were here - a -12 per cent dive.
Now's not the time to take the foot off the pedal when it comes to tourism.
- Premier Will Hodgman
Chinese visitors are the most enamoured with Tasmania, keeping up the growth in visitation from the country since President Xi Jinping visited in 2014. They account for 16 per cent of international visitors.
The number of Korean tourists exploded, increasing by 219 per cent to 5700 visitors, while visitors from Scandinavian countries fell by 38 per cent to 3900 visitors.
Italians arrived in increasing numbers - 3000 came throughout the year, up 44 per cent.
The popularity of the Cradle Coast among tourists rose, with more than 500,000 visitors heading to the North-West and the rugged West Coast (+3 per cent). Visitation in the Southern and Northern regions remained steady but East Coast numbers took a 10 per cent plunge.
Tourism Tasmania clarified this by saying the East Coast figures "may be supplemented by a growth in intrastate visitation to the area".
Amid the release of the new figures, Tourism Tasmania also launched its latest campaign to drive further visitation to the state. It's called Unordinary Adventures and will aim to attract people looking for more left-field tourism experiences.