Visitor Growth to March 2015 despite TC Marcia
Posted on July 29th, 2015
IVS (International Visitor Survey) data to year ending March 2015 has today revealed an increase of 16% visitor growth to the Southern Great Barrier Reef destination which includes the Capricorn region (Rockhampton, Capricorn Coast, Central Highlands) compared to the previous year. Queensland has seen a 7% increase of international visitors to year ending March 2015.
The data has revealed a 40% increase from the German market (up 6,000 visitors from 16,000 to 22,000 visitors), a 32% increase from the New Zealand market, as well as increases from France and the USA to the Southern Great Barrier Reef.
Capricorn Enterprise CEO Mary Carroll said “we have seen growth in five of our six key internationals markets which is extremely encouraging. Visitor growth particularly from Germany and New Zealand directly reflects our collaborative efforts in those markets led by Tourism and Events Queensland and our SGBR partnership is allowing us to stretch our limited marketing funds further which is clearly working.”
“International visitor expenditure in SGBR has increased to $91 Million to the year ending March 2015 which is an increase of $9 Million from the previous year, which is a tremendous result.”
“Whilst these statistics take in the three regions of Capricorn, Gladstone and Bundaberg, we know that statistically, the majority of visitors are to the Capricorn region” she said.
These IVS (International Visitor Survey) statistics have mirrored the growth demonstrated in the NVS (National Visitor Survey) data released earlier this year.
The NVS data revealed a 15.2% growth in domestic visitors to the SGBR and a 10.9% growth in domestic visitor expenditure to year ending March 2015 compared to the previous year, despite the natural weather event of TC Marcia on Friday 20th February.
The National Visitor Survey data demonstrated a 5% increase of visitors to Queensland in the year ending March 2015, the majority in the business sector.
Ms Carroll said “Ironically, February is traditionally one of our quietest months for visitors, both leisure and corporate, yet immediately after TC Marcia, hundreds of Ergon Energy and emergency workers who descended upon Rockhampton and Yeppoon, boosted our visitor economy for the March quarter.”
“However, we saw growth in domestic visitors to the year ending March 2015 compared to the previous year across all three sectors of our visitor economy;- holiday makers up 78,000 visitors (total 576,000), VFR (visiting friends and relatives) up 27,000 (total 579,000) and an additional 104,000 business travellers (total 557,000 representing a 23% increase) were recorded to the Southern Great Barrier Reef destination.
Intrastate (within Queensland) numbers, which make up 86% of our domestic visitors, were up 14.4% (total 1.6 million visitors) whilst our interstate numbers, which make up 14% of our domestic visitors, were up 19.8% (total 266,000 visitors).
“What is very encouraging, is that we have seen increases where our limited marketing dollars have been targeted, and considerable growth in visitors from regional NSW offers additional marketing opportunities.”
Mary Carroll, Chief Executive Officer
Capricorn Enterprise
0417 669 286
