The Tourism Research Australia federal agency report found that the number of domestic visitors to the Riverina dropped by 36 per cent to 797,000 people in the 12 months to March this year.

Destination Riverina Murray general manager Yvette Myhill says the tourism group was already working to help the tourism industry recover.

"Destination NSW through Destination Riverina Murray has been working proactively with the local councils on marketing campaigns to create awareness for the region and convert interest into bookings from future visitors," she said.

"Destination NSW also features the Riverina in its 'always on' activity such as organic social media content, website content and publicity outreach."

The Riverina's drop in visitor numbers was worse than NSW average but it did much better in terms limiting the fall in the number of of visitor nights and overall visitor expenditure.

Ms Myhill said the Riverina's number of day trip visitors had seen less of a drop than its overnight visitors.

"While overnight visitation in the Riverina has decreased year on year, day trip visitation to the Riverina has maintained a stronger position," she said.

"We know that the Riverina has benefited from strong interest from the domestic market, in particular attracting visitors from Sydney and Canberra during this time."

One of the bright spots in the survey of national visitors was that the average visitor spend per person in the Riverina had increased by 13.5 per cent to $437.

"We have seen very positive impacts in the Riverina with widespread support from visitors for local businesses, which has been driven in part by campaigns such as "Buy from the Bush"," Ms Myhill said.

"We also know that the appetite for regional travel is higher amongst city travellers. We will continue working with local councils, Visit Riverina and Destination NSW to support visitation to our region.

"The results show an increase in average length of stay for visitors in Riverina over the year."

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