Queensland Business Review
Aussies in need of a holiday continued to choose Queensland in 2009 with the state recording its highest share of domestic holiday visitors in more than two years, Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor announced today.
The National Visitor Survey for the year ended December 2009, released by Tourism Research Australia, also revealed the number of holiday visitor nights was up in 2009.
"This is a positive result for Queensland, with our share of the domestic holiday market increasing by 1 percent, which hasn't been as strong since September 2007," Lawlor says.
"The number of nights our holiday visitors stayed was also up in 2009 to more than 36 million nights,” he says.
"Holidaymakers make up the largest proportion of visitors to Queensland, so it's encouraging to see that those who did holiday in Queensland last year increased the length of their stay.”
RESULTS
Key results from the survey show Queensland performed relatively well against other states.
While New South Wales received the most visitors (34 percent), Queensland and Victoria both posted a strong 24 percent.
Queensland also achieved a 27 percent share of visitor nights and 22 percent of day visitors.
The Sunshine State received the most expenditure from domestic overnight visitors travelling for the purpose of holiday ($6.4 billion).
DOWNTURN
Despite such positive results, Lawlor admits the GFC and a downturn in business and consumer confidence “severely affected” Australians’ travel patterns over the past year.
He says while overall domestic visitors to Queensland decreased by six percent to 15.7 million, this was consistent with the national average.
"It was not unexpected that domestic visitor numbers would be down in 2009, however it's encouraging to note these results revealed that things for the holiday market were looking more positive in final quarter of 2009.
"The holiday results from the last quarter are a good indication that the outlook for 2010 is positive, which is consistent with the Tourism Forecasting Committee's latest report which predicted the number of nights Australians spend in Queensland to increase by 2.2 percent."
REGION BREAKDOWN
Today’s data also provided a region-by-region breakdown of Queensland’s domestic visitor results.
Following the state trend, Brisbane witnessed a decline in domestic visitation from both the intra and interstate markets resulting in an 11 percent decline in total visitation for 2009.
The Gold Coast also saw a decline in domestic visitors, dropping 3 percent for the year.
The domestic holiday market to the Gold Coast declined 5 percent, which also contributed to the expenditure decline (down 5 percent to $2,851 million for 2009).
Domestic visitors to the Whitsundays declined 26 percent in 2009, with a drop in interstate and intrastate holiday visitors driving the decline.
On a positive note, domestic travel to Tropical North Queensland increased by 1 percent for the year ended December 2009, underpinned by an increase in interstate holiday (up 14 percent) and interstate VFR visitors (up 32 percent).
The Sunshine Coast recorded a 4 percent downturn in domestic visitors in the year ended December 2009, predominately due to a decline in VFR travel (a consistent theme across the majority of Queensland regions).
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