This is the first time the school has sent students to Australia. This year 11 students visited local attractions, schools and universities.

The visit has been a collaborative effort between Tourism WA’s Japan office, Austrade and the WA Government office in Japan.

It is part of a new program which aims to encourage foreign students to pursue tertiary study in Perth. The program is expected to bring more than 1,000 students to Western Australia over the next three years.

International education is a vital component of WA’s tourism industry.

In 2016-17, WA attracted 51,300 international visitors to WA for education purposes. These visitors spent $698 million in WA, or 28 per cent of all international visitor spend in the state.

Eleven per cent of education visitors in WA had family members visiting them from overseas while studying while 10 per cent had friends visiting them.

Attracting international students to Western Australia presents great benefits for the local tourism industry and the economy.