Australia's tourism export industry has proved its growing strength as a contributor to our economic prosperity with the latest International Visitor Survey showing a record 6.4 million visitors in the 12 months to December 2014.

“The strength of our export tourism industry is undeniable and, despite the delay in this data set, there has been no misstep in the strong growth for Australian tourism,” ATEC Managing Director, Peter Shelley said today.

“We have now, well and truly, burst through the $30 billion expenditure mark and our international marketing efforts are paying off with significant growth in the leisure visitation, particularly from Asian markets.

“Our industry has placed itself in a strong position to fully realise the potential of a growing engagement with travel from Asian markets and we continue to be a highly prized destination for our traditional markets, particularly the United States and the UK.

“Australian tourism should be very proud, we have weathered a significant downturn from our traditional markets flowing from the GFC and are now seeing both a return of these markets along with strong engagement from new and developing markets of the east.

“These results give our governments, both State and Federal, an even greater impetus to be more focused on tourism's success and to provide stronger supports for its continuing growth.”