The number of international tourists in Canberra is up about 15 per cent with the majority of international visitors hailing from China, new tourism data shows.
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The Tourism Research Australia data also showed a 6 per cent dip in backpacker numbers, who are spending about 19 per cent less in the ACT than they did last year.
The figures show 18.4 per cent - or 45,680 - of international visitors are from China, with visitors from the United States, the UK, New Zealand and India making the top five at 9.5 per cent, 8.9 per cent, 7.1 per cent and 4.8 per cent respectively.
It comes as ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr continues to lobby for more international routes to Canberra, with Canberra Airport already seeing flights from Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways.
A statement from Mr Barr's office indicated they were approaching other airlines, including Hong Kong Airlines, Air New Zealand and China Southern Airlines.
The statement also pinned the increase in international visitors to the government's efforts on drawing in direct flights as well as international engagement.
The data indicates the number of Chinese visitors had not increased between the year ending March 2018 and the year ending March 2017.
Over this same time period, there was a 24.4 per cent drop in the number of visitors from Singapore, who make up 3.4 per cent of Canberra's international visitors.
Germany, India and Hong Kong were the highest growing tourism markets, seeing increases of 71.5 per cent, 63.8 per cent and 60 per cent respectively over that time period.
For the year ending March 2018, Canberra saw about 248,000 international overnight visitors, up about 15 per cent from 214,000 visitors in the year ending March 2017.
However, for the year ending March 2018, Canberra saw about 31,000 backpackers stay in hostels, down about 6 per cent from about 33,000 in the year ending March 2017.
The backpackers are staying longer though, with the number of nights spent in the ACT rising about 5 per cent over that period.
Overall, the number of nights spent in Canberra rose about 20 per cent in that same time period, as did how much they spent with an increase of about 16 per cent.
The data said visitors were spending about $110 per night and spending an average of $2442 per visit. Overall, tourists contributed about $606 million to the Canberra economy in that period.
These figures also include people who came to Canberra for holidays, to visit family members, for business reasons and for education or employment purposes.
The ACT government hopes to have seen international visitors spend $2.5 billion in the capital region overall, with the government indicating figures are currently just above $2 billion.
