New data from Tourism Research Australia has confirmed Western Sydney is a visitor economy powerhouse for NSW.

The region attracted nearly one in every five (19 per cent) domestic overnight visitors and one in every seven (15.3 per cent) international visitors to Sydney in 2024.

Western Sydney welcomed 2.2 million domestic overnight visitors in the year ending December 2024, who spent $1.4 billion (up 3.4 per cent on the previous year).

There were 539,500 international visitors to Western Sydney during the period, up 5.2 per cent year on year). These visitors stayed 22.2 million nights (up 15.7 per cent year on year) and spent $1.7 billion (up 15 per cent year on year).

The recently announced $8 million Western Sydney International Take-Off Fund, administered by Destination NSW, will turbocharge visitation to the region. The fund will incentivise international airlines to fly new routes into Western Sydney International Airport (WSI). This funding will be matched by WSI, representing a combined fund value of $16 million to boost airline capacity.

WSI will play an important role in achieving the NSW Government’s goal of $91 billion of visitor expenditure by 2035, with the total $16 million funding package forecast to deliver more than 162,000 international visitors to NSW and generate an estimated $530 million of visitor expenditure.

Western Sydney International Airport CEO Simon Hickey said: “This airport – Sydney’s only 24-hour international gateway – will deliver a major boost to the state’s visitor economy and provide further support for the vibrant and diverse tourism attractions that NSW has to offer for both domestic and global travellers alike.

“WSI is built for growth, with plans in place that will eventually see it become Sydney’s biggest international airport, handling more than 80 million annual passengers, which is akin to London’s Heathrow airport today.”

Learn more about the Western Sydney International Take-Off Fund here.

Western Sydney includes data from 12 LGAs: Blacktown, Camden, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Hawkesbury, Liverpool, Parramatta, Penrith, The Hills Shire and Wollondilly. Potential response bias is noted in the data due to the close proximity of LGA’s as such results may be interpreted as indicative only.