Tourism in Shoalhaven City continues to grow surpassing both regional and State figures with tourists bringing more than $604 million to the region for the 2007-2008 financial year.

Figures from Tourism Research Australia and National Visitor Surveys show that Shoalhaven City [which includes the Jervis Bay territory] attracted more than 1.2 million domestic visitors in the year, a 12 per cent increase on the 2006-2007 financial year. These visitors spent more than four million nights in the city.

Overall domestic visitors and day visitors to the city directly spent more than $592 million in the region. International visitors [30,400 for the year] spent more than $12.6 million in the region.

Shoalhaven City Mayor Councillor Paul Green said tourism is a huge economic driver for the city.

"We are blessed with a wonderful region and its natural beauty is a great attraction to many people in Sydney, Australia and from international destinations," Clr Green said.

"The rise in tourism represents an eight per cent increase in the number of visitors to our city and these visitors spend nearly $605 million in the city. This boost to our economy can't be underestimated. Not only are we in a particularly magnificent region we are only a short drive from one of Australia's largest cities, Sydney, with a population of more than four million people.

"This increase in tourism figures has a direct impact on employment, the general economy and the social life of our city. It is also an indication that Tourism Shoalhaven's drive to market our region is successful and targeted to the right areas."

Tourism Research Australia released the June 2008 quarterly report on Travel by Australians. The National Visitors Survey (NVS 17 September, 2008).

An analysis of the figures has shown that Shoalhaven City and Jervis Bay Territory has shown an 8.34 per cent increase in Domestic Visitor Nights and a 12.32 per cent increase in the number of Domestic Visitors over the 12-month period.

The number of International Visitors jumped from 21,000 to 30,400. However the average length of stay for our International Visitors dropped to 173,000 international visitor nights for the year. The number of day visitors also dropped from 1.4 million to 1.3 million.

Tom Phillips, Council's Tourism Manager, said this may be in part due to converting previous day visitors to overnight visitors which is better for our economy.

Total expenditure by all visitors has jumped by $60 million to $605 million a year. The results for the Shoalhaven are:
Domestic Visitation 1,258,000 Up 12.32%
Domestic Visitor Nights 4,090,000 Up 8.33%
Day Visitation 1,370,000 Down 5.32%
International Visitation 30,400 Up 9,000
International Visitor Nights 173,000 Down 0.57%

The positive results for the Shoalhaven and Jervis Bay Territory have gone against South Coast, Regional New south Wales and total New South Wales trends in the all important domestic market.

In other regions all tourism figures are down:
South Coast (Wollongong to Eden) Down 0.6%
Regional New South Wales Down 3.24%
Total New South Wales Down 3.17%