International Visitation Continues To Grow To Southern Great Barrier Reef Destination!
Posted on June 2nd, 2016
Tourism Research Australia has today released its official data on international visitor statistics to the year ending March 2016 and the news is all good for Australia, Queensland and the Southern Great Barrier Reef.
In the twelve (12) months to March 2016, international visitors to the Southern Great Barrier Reef destination (Capricorn, Gladstone (CQ) and Bundaberg regions) has grown by 3% to 140,000 visitors, which is an increase of 4,000 international visitors.
Visitor Nights has also increased by 13% (or 311,000 visitor nights) to a total of 2.6 Million visitor nights to the year ending March 2016.
Average Length of stay is 18.7 nights for international visitors to the Southern Great Barrier Reef destination which has also increased by 1.7 nights to the year ending March 2016.
Capricorn Enterprise chief executive Mary Carroll said “whilst it is fantastic our international visitors, visitor nights and their length of stay has increased to the year ending March 2016, what is really exciting is that overnight visitor expenditure (OVE) is up 20% to $108.4 Million. This equates to an average spend of $965 per visitor and an average per night spend of $77 which is nearly double that of the previous year and heading in the right direction to reach our 2020 targets.”
Queensland’s international visitors are up 10% to 2.4 million, staying for 51.9 million visitor nights with an overnight visitor expenditure (OVE) of $5 Billion to the year ending March 2016.
Mary Carroll said “whilst Queensland’s international visitation is predominantly up due to an increase of eastern markets including China, Japan, Taiwan and Korea, the western markets have been, and will continue to be, the source of our continued growth to the Southern Great Barrier Reef destination at least for the short and medium terms. Whilst there were 442,000 visitors from China to Queensland, there were 426,000 Kiwis and 231,000 visitors from the UK to the year ending March 2016. The top five (5) international markets to this region are from the UK, NZ, Germany, North America and Scandinavian countries because we have the wide open spaces, unspoiled natural beauty and real Australian experiences they are seeking.”
Of the 140,000 international visitors to the Southern Great Barrier Reef destination to the year ending March 2016, 105,000 are holiday, 20,000 are visiting friends and relatives, 11,000 are here for employment and 6,000 are visiting on business.
“We have seen consistent growth in our international visitors to our destination over the past five years since we formed the Southern Great Barrier Reef destination partnership between the three regions of Capricorn, Gladstone and Bundaberg and strongly supported by Tourism and Events Queensland. Our commitment to this four way partnership continues to go from strength to strength which is obvious in our latest campaign for our inland wonders of the Southern Great Barrier Reef Sandstone Wilderness” she said.
ENDS: Mary Carroll – 0417 669 286 (Capricorn Enterprise)
