Oz popular destination for Chinese: report

The number of Chinese visiting Australia has increased by more than 130,000, according to the latest annual snapshot of inbound tourism.

While New Zealand still leads Australia's guest list, with more than 1.1 million people crossing the ditch in the 12 months up to March, Chinese interest showed the greatest upturn, with 829,000 visitors during the same period.

The data was released by the federal government on Wednesday, showing an overall eight per cent increase in international visitors, who spent a record $32.5 billion, which means associated revenue has picked up by 10 per cent.

Most (3.3 million) visitors went to NSW but it was Tasmania that showed the greatest growth, of 28 per cent, in international visitor numbers.

The island state's premier and tourism minister Will Hodgman said the eyes of the world are on Tasmania.

"What this shows is more and more international visitors bound for Australia have our island in their sights and are snapping up boarding passes bound for Tassie," he said on Wednesday.

The apple isle is proving particularly popular with visitors from China and Hong Kong.

Holiday was listed as the most common reason for international visitors coming to Australia, but employment emerged as a growing incentive, up 22 per cent on the previous year, bringing 275,000 into the country.

Australia's joint hosting of the ICC Cricket World Cup in early 2015 has been credited for a 25 per cent jump in the number of visitors from India, who totalled 202,000.

Since 2010 there has been an increase of 78 per cent in the number of Indian visitors coming to Australia, surpassed only by China's 137 per cent growth over the same period.