Queensland events calendar continues to boom in 2018

The 2018 Queensland events calendar is forecast to generate more than $780 million in economic benefit to the State’s economy.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Tourism and Major Events Minister Kate Jones said since coming to office, the Government had doubled the value of Queensland’s events calendar from $380 million in 2015 to $780 million next year.

“These events attract visitors from interstate and overseas, and help create local jobs,” the Premier said.

“Since the Government came to office, more than 115,000 jobs have been created across Queensland.”

“Queensland has proven itself over-and-over again as a world-class events destination and the growing value and variety of our events calendar is a testament to our global reputation,” she said

Ms Jones said the Queensland Government, through Tourism and Events Queensland, has shown that using events, both big and small, as a platform to showcase Queensland’s unique tourism offering has been a winning formula.

In 2016-17, TEQ supported 49 major events, 87 destination events, and 16 business events, growing TEQ’s portfolio of events by almost ten per cent from the previous financial year to generate $349.7 million in overnight visitor expenditure, $415.2 million in direct and incremental spending, 1.985 million direct visitor nights and attracting 242,350 visitors to Queensland.

Almost half of the events that TEQ invests in are held outside of the south east Queensland corner, promoting the unique tourism opportunities on offer in regional Queensland.

“In 2017 we saw huge international events in Queensland ranging from the Jeff Horn world title fight at Suncorp Stadium to the Marvel: Creating the Cinematic Universe exhibition at GoMA, the UCI World Mountain Bike Championships in Cairns and the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast,” Ms Jones said.

“Next year promises to be even bigger, spearheaded by the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games in April and of course the TV WEEK Logie Awards in July.”

“Investment in our events calendar drives visitation right across Queensland, which in turn supports local jobs and injects millions of dollars into the economy.

The Games will inject more than $4 billion into Queensland’s economy, supporting thousands of jobs and delivering world-class sporting facilities that will benefit Queenslanders for years to come.

Ms Jones said there was a total of 69 events on next year’s It’s Live! In Queensland calendar.

“The Brisbane Global Rugby Tens, followed by the Quiksilver and Roxy Pros and then CMC Rocks Qld, all before the Commonwealth Games, is a great way to kick off the year,” she said

“The Noosa Food and Wine Festival, the 40th Gold Coast Marathon, the Birdsville Big Red Bash and the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair are all iconic events which showcase the best of what Queensland has to offer.

“Then to round out the year we have the 60th Mount Isa Mines Rotary Rodeo, the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Gold Coast, the Gold Coast 600 and the Woodford Folk Festival.

“Our world-class calendar proves Queensland is just the place to experience the world’s best live events.”

New events on the 2018 calendar include the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, the Winds of Zenadth Cultural Festival in the Torres Strait, the World Parachuting Championships, the TV WEEK Logie Awards, the Whitsunday Clipper Race Carnival, the Australian Swimming Trials and the Australian Athletics Championships.

To see the full calendar, click here.