More interstate tourists are visiting Canberra and spending more money while they're here, new figures have shown.
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The latest national visitor survey revealed Canberra received an extra 170,000 tourists in the 12 months to March 2019 compared to the year before.
In one year, 2.92 million tourists stayed a combined 7.2 million nights in the national capital, boosting the Canberra economy by $1.86 billion.
The amount of money domestic tourists spent visiting Canberra increased by more than 21 per cent, up from the $1.52 billion in the year to March 2018.
The ACT had the second largest growth in terms of money spent by tourists in one year, eclipsed only by WA which grew by 24 per cent in the same period.
A Visit Canberra spokeswoman said it had been a fantastic period for tourism in the region.
She said visitor numbers had continued to climb following the naming of the national capital in 2018 as Lonely Planet's third best city in the world to visit.
"It is particularly pleasing to see record domestic overnight visitation by holiday visitors, which is testament to Canberra's significant transformation and evolution as a world-class tourism destination," the spokeswoman said.
She said the ACT government was looking to increase the number of low cost carriers servicing the city by actively pursuing opportunities to grow new domestic and international markets.
The majority of interstate visitors to Canberra, just more than 1 million people, said they came to Canberra during the 12-month period to visit friends.
The next most common reason was travelling for business, 894,000 people, followed by 847,000 tourists coming to Canberra for holidays.
Visitors from NSW were the most common tourists to the ACT, with 1.85 million making the trip across the border, followed by Victoria and Queensland.
On a national level, Australians took more than 109 million overnight trips during the year, staying a combined 386 million nights.
Spending from tourists also increased by 14 per cent to $74.5 billion.
Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham said a large amount of domestic travel was done away from major city centres.
"The benefits of these domestic trips are being felt beyond our capital cities, with over half of all overnight spend, or nearly $38 billion, occurring in regional areas," Mr Birmingham said.
"More than ever Australians are choosing to holiday at home, and in particular, indulge in their love of the great outdoors, with nearly a quarter of all domestic travellers enjoying a hike or walk as part of their holiday."
Canberra was the 15th most visited location in the country for overnight visitors, receiving more tourists than the Great Ocean Road, Hobart and the Blue Mountains.
The most popular domestic destination was Sydney, followed by Melbourne, the NSW north coast, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
A popular summer getaway for Canberrans, the NSW South Coast, was among the top 10 most visited locations in the country, coming in at eighth and attracting more than 13 million visitors in the year to March.
Other locations to crack the top 10 included Perth, the Sunshine Coast, the Hunter Valley and tropical north Queensland.