Big jump in Chinese visitors boosts Tasmanian tourism

The number of Chinese visitors coming to Tasmania has jumped 61 per cent over 12 months.

The latest tourism snapshot shows visitor numbers to June were up 10 per cent.

There was a 4 per cent jump in international visitors, which included a massive 61 per cent in increase in Chinese tourists.

All up, more than one million people spent more than $1.7 billion.

Tourism Tasmania head John Fitzgerald hopes the state will be able to capitalise on a recent sales mission to Asia.

"There's an extreme amount of interest there... as we are engaging in the market, and I think importantly our operators get an understanding of the way that the market works; some of the cultural dynamics, some of the hygiene factors, some of the cuisine factors," he said.

"But I think overall, the Asian market's coming for an Australian and a Tasmanian experience."

As Victorian stay away, Tasmanians look to NSW

Tourism Tasmania is also hoping to encourage more New South Wales visitors to the state, as Victorian visitor growth slows.

The number of interstate visitors increased by 8 per cent, with 30 per cent more Queenslanders opting for a cool climate holiday.

Tasmania's traditional tourism base - Victoria - increased by just 3 per cent, while NSW grew by 11 per cent.

Mr Fitzgerald said there was still room to move in both the domestic and international markets.

"We still think that there's a lot of growth in the domestic market, particularly NSW and now Queensland that we're engaging more heavily."

"So we think we can pinch more of Australia's domestic tourism market, but there is a future particularly in Asia and we're increasing our resource effort in that area."

Hopes Chinese president Xi Jinping will visit

The Tasmanian Government has produced a booklet to help the local tourism industry get "China ready".

The industry is also gearing up for an influx of Chinese visitors if a visit by Chinese president Xi Jinping is confirmed.

Mr Xi will attend the G20 summit in Brisbane in November and has flagged a possible visit to Tasmania while in the country.

The Tasmanian Government has set a target of 1.5 million visitors a year by 2020.