THE latest Tourism Research Australia data has confirmed Queensland is booming as the country’s most popular tourism destination.
A record 11.3 million Australians enjoyed a holiday in Queensland in the year to March 2023 reflecting a surge of 24 percent.
The tourists to the Sunshine state delivered an unprecedented 50.5 million holiday nights and a nation-leading $16.7b in overnight visitor expenditure.
Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the terrific results reflect the full recovery of Queensland’s domestic visitor economy from the wrecking ball of the global Covid pandemic.
“In the last year, more Australians shared Queensland’s great lifestyle and spent more holiday nights here than ever before, confirming our place as the nation’s top holiday destination,” he said.
“This record-breaking data reflects the hard work and commitment of Queensland tourism operators to maximising the opportunities of the industry’s Towards Tourism 2032 roadmap.
Interstate holiday makers to Queensland jumped 17 per cent on pre-Covid data to a record 3.9 million, spending $9.8 billion in the year to March 2023.”
Brisbane (2.46 million), the Sunshine Coast (2.48 million) and the Fraser Coast (460,000) welcomed more domestic holiday visitors than ever before with total visitors to the Gold Coast hitting a record 4.22 million.
Just one of Queensland’s 11 tourism regions failed to break records for domestic visitor spending.
Spending on business travel to Queensland including conventions and conferences was up 12.7 per cent on pre-pandemic 2019 data to a record $4.5 billion.
Overall, Queensland welcomed a record 26 million domestic visitors and 1.3 million international visitors generating $29.3 billion and $3.6 billion, respectively, for a $32.9 billion total visitor spend. In the year to March 2023, New Zealand was Qld’s leading source of international visitors, followed by the UK, US, India and Japan.
Patricia O’Callaghan CEO, Tourism and Events Queensland said we know external economic factors have potential to impact growth, so it’s never been more important to work with our partners to convert holiday intentions into Queensland holiday bookings.
“We have more than 130 events locked in between now and Christmas to bring more domestic visitors to more Queensland destinations,” he said.
“Right now, there are 30 campaigns active globally to drive international demand for world-class Queensland visitor experiences.”
