- Queensland growth in international visitor spend outperforms the national average.
- Queensland continues to dominate as Australia’s favourite holiday destination.
- Domestic business visitors up 26 per cent to 5.3 million.
Queensland tourism continues to break records with $33.2 billion in overnight visitor spend for the year to June 2023, or almost $91 million a day.
The latest Tourism Research Australia data shows 1.6 million international visitors travelled to Queensland, spending $4.3 billion and putting the State’s recovery in overseas spend ahead of the national average by 2 percent.
Between January and June 2023, Townsville with 55,000 overseas visitors was up 2.5 per cent and the only Queensland region to welcome more international travellers than in 2019, pre-pandemic.
Queensland outperformed the national average in the June quarter for international visitor spend from New Zealand ($212 million, up 50 per cent), the UK ($86 million, up 38 per cent) and Canada ($34 million, up 23 per cent).
Visitors from Canada for the June quarter, compared with the same period in 2019, increased more than 30 per cent to 17,000 following Air Canada’s increase in flight capacity to Brisbane, secured by the $200 million Attracting Aviation Investment Fund.
China has returned to Queensland’s top three for international visitor spend at $88.5 million behind New Zealand and the US.
International holiday visitors stayed on average 14 nights in the June quarter, two more nights than the same period in 2019.
Domestic business visitors to Queensland in the year to June are up by more than a quarter to 5.3 million, spending $4.7 billion which is up almost 77 per cent.
Queensland continues to shine as Australia’s holiday destination of choice with 10.8 million holiday visitors, up 15 percent and spending $16 billion for a nation leading 29 per cent share.
In total, Queensland welcomed 25.3 million domestic visitors in the year to June 2023, up 16.4 per cent on the previous year.
Gold Coast at 4.3 million and Tropical North Queensland with 2.5 million welcomed more domestic visitors than ever before.
Brisbane’s 7.2 million domestic visitors spent a record $6.9 billion, the Outback and Mackay also broke spending records with $892 million and $751 million, respectively and each with 1.1 million visitors.
Queensland Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said:
“The latest visitor data is great credit to tourism operators and our world-class visitor experiences with Queensland remaining the nation’s favourite holiday destination.
“It’s a terrific result to celebrate on World Tourism Day 2023.
“Queensland’s visitor economy continues to break records, bringing the State a step closer to our target of building a $44 billion-a-year tourism industry by the 2032 Games.
“The State’s international tourism recovery is showing important signs of roaring to life in a highly competitive market, made possible by Queensland’s $200 million Attracting Aviation Investment Fund
“The next decade and beyond is Queensland’s opportunity to shine brightly on the national and international stage and that’s particularly good news for regional Queensland jobs.”
CEO of Tourism and Events Queensland Patricia O’Callaghan said:
“Demand for Queensland is high, and we intend to keep it that way.
“Our commitment to showing travellers the unforgettable experiences they’ll have in Queensland is stronger than ever, while we also continue to populate our calendar with world-class events which drive visitation.
“The focus will remain on reinvigorating our markets, driving demand through cutting-edge, high-impact marketing campaigns and leveraging the influence of Queensland’s destinations and industry.”
