Visitor Growth to Year Ending June 2015!
Posted on September 2nd, 2015
IVS (International Visitor Survey) data to year ending June 2015 has today revealed an increase of 11% 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 an 8% increase of international visitors to year ending June 2015.
The statistics to year ending June 2015 to the SGBR destination reveal a total of 137,000 international visitors which equates to 2.4 Million visitor nights and an average length of stay of 17.7 nights. Visitor expenditure has increased by 18% to $97 Million to the year ending June 2015 (up $15 Million), with an average visitor spend of $643 per international visitor which is a 5% increase.
Capricorn Enterprise CEO Mary Carroll said “whilst these statistics are provided for a larger destination footprint of the SGBR, we know that nearly 50% of visitation is attributed to our Capricorn Region which includes the Rockhampton region, Capricorn Coast and Central Highlands/Sandstone Wilderness. Our region within the Southern Great Barrier Reef destination in these statistics has shown significant growth in all of our target international markets which is extremely encouraging.”
The data has revealed a 30% increase from the German market (up 5,000 visitors to 21,000 visitors), a 12% increase from the New Zealand market (to 18,000 visitors), and a 16% increase from US (to 11,000 visitors) to SGBR. Our Top 5 international markets are the UK, Germany, NZ, US and France.
“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.”
“Beef Australia in May 2015 is certainly a contributor to these statistics, but the consecutive growth in both the year ending March and the year ending June 2015 in our target international markets is more reflective of our year long activity particularly in our digital reach, trade and on-line distribution channels.”
Nearly 76% of our international visitors are visiting for a holiday (leisure) and that figure is 104,000 visitors which is up 14% from the previous year. About 18,000 international visitors are visiting friends and relatives (VFR) and 12,000 are here for employment.
“International visitor expenditure in SGBR has increased to $97 Million to the year ending June 2015 which is an increase of $15 Million from the previous year, which is a tremendous result.”
The National Visitor Survey (NVS) statistics (domestic visitors) for the year ending June 2015 are due to be released on Wednesday 16th September.
Mary Carroll, Chief Executive Officer, Capricorn Enterprise, 0417 669 286
