Western Australia's visitor economy spent A$19.2 billion in 2025 — A$800 million above target — with 11 million overnight visitors, international spending of A$3.4 billion, and a Perth hotel market posting record rates on record demand.
The recovery shows in the money before anywhere else: A$19.2 billion in 2025 against an A$18.4 billion target, with 11 million overnight visitors — 300,000 above plan. International visitors contributed A$3.4 billion of it; China alone spent A$503 million (+66%), the UK A$414 million, and Japanese spending jumped 85% on the back of the daily Tokyo flight.
Perth's hotels price the confidence: RevPAR hit a record A$199 in Q3 2025, up 9% year on year, with the city among the few Australian markets exceeding every pre-pandemic metric. New supply is scarce — the headline openings are a 121-room Hyde and an 83-room Fremantle boutique — so event weekends concentrate demand brutally.
The event economy is the state's deliberate machine: A$223 million injected by 2025–26 majors (the WWE weekend, the Ashes Test, Sail GP, AFL Origin), business events worth A$1.71 billion a year, and an events portfolio returning A$3.48 per dollar — 594,000 bed nights and 145,000 out-of-state visitors in the last measured year, at an average stay of 6.5 nights spending A$288 a day.
For the traveller the arithmetic runs two ways. Event weeks price Perth like Sydney — book a year out or not at all. The rest of the calendar is the quiet bargain: five-star beds under A$350, the west's best restaurants without a wait, and the state's signature experiences — Rottnest, Kings Park, Cottesloe at sunset — costing between nothing and a ferry fare.
Our read: Perth rewards the patient booker. Lock the room the day you book the flight — inventory is thin and events move rates overnight — then spend where the state is genuinely world-class: one Margaret River day, one Rottnest overnight, one dinner overlooking the Swan. Skip the CBD splurge hotel unless it's a trophy weekend; the record RevPAR is the market telling you the mid-tier is where the value sits.
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