It’s the first time since the 2007 calendar year the state has recorded an annual domestic visitor increase of more than a million, indicating a resurgence in the Queensland tourism industry.
Tourism Minister Jann Stuckey said Tourism Research Australia’s latest National Visitor Survey for the year ending December 2012, showed more than 18 million visitors travelled throughout Queensland, a six per cent increase on 2011.
All up, Australians spent 74.5 million nights and $13.5 billion during visits to Queensland in 2012, increases of six and eight per cent respectively.
“The figures released today show 2012 was a year of growth for Queensland’s tourism industry and the outlook for 2013 is positive,” Ms Stuckey said. “Overall, the number of Queenslanders travelling throughout the state increased nine per cent in 2012 to 12.6 million. Queensland was also the preferred holiday destination for more southerners with the number of Sydneysiders travelling to Queensland for a holiday up by 19 per cent, while the number of Melbournians rose 15 per cent.”
Ms Stuckey said on a regional basis, several of the state’s major tourism regions had shown good results. “The Gold Coast and Sunshine Coasts were the standouts, with the number of Australian holidaymakers travelling to the Gold Coast up 13 per cent and travellers to the Sunshine Coast up 15 per cent,” she said.
Travel to Brisbane remained stable with five million Australians visiting the state’s capital in 2012, while visitor spending rose nine per cent to $3.1 billion.
Australians travelling to Tropical North Queensland increased to 1.5 million, with those travelling to see friends and relatives also recording strong growth.
Ms Stuckey said tourism is one of the four pillars of the Queensland economy and in 2013 the government would continue to deliver a coordinated, strategic approach to attracting visitors.
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