A Destination NSW spokes-man said its National Visitor Survey revealed overnight trips had increased by seven per cent from 720,000 in September 2013 to 769,000 in September 2014.

The number of nights spent in the shire also rose six per cent, while visitor expenditure grew from $350 million to $375 million.

The figures were detailed in a visit to Eurobodalla Shire Council’s tourism committee representatives last week.

Councillor Liz Innes chaired the meeting, and said the South Coast’s tourism growth was encouraging.

“We talked through how our marketing campaigns are showing results and where we can improve them in the future,” she said.

Cr Innes said the survey results revealed trends from source markets such as the ACT, which she said comprised about 30 per cent of Eurobodalla’s visitors.

“Reports from tourism business people in the north of the shire, that up to 50 per cent of their business is now coming from Sydney, demonstrates that our marketing strategy is working,” Cr Innes said.

“Although ACT is declining slightly, the increase in visitors from Sydney and other larger regional markets is keeping our growth strong.”

Another four-year average Destination NSW profile report on the Eurobodalla states the shire received 1,221,000 total visitors to September 2014, up slightly from 1,260,000 the previous year.

This comprised 724,000 overnight visitors (up from 688,000) and visitors stayed a total of 2,757,000 nights (up from 2,653,000).

There were 700,000 domestic overnight travellers, 497,000 day-trippers and 24,000 international travellers.

Of the overnighters, 69 per cent were on holiday while 22 per cent were visiting friends or relatives.

The bulk of these were from regional NSW (31 per cent), the ACT (30 per cent), Sydney 26 per cent and Victoria 10 per cent.

Twenty-seven per cent stayed at a friend or relative’s property, 23 per cent a caravan park or camping ground, 17 per cent a rented house or flat, 12 per cent their own property and 11 per cent a hotel or motel.