Southern Great Barrier Reef Region Breaks Tourism Records
Posted on October 3rd, 2018
Tourism has solidified its position as a pillar in our local economy according to new data released yesterday (Tuesday 2nd October) showcasing record high results.
The National Visitor Survey data is released by Tourism Events Queensland, and recent figures revealed that tourism provides a huge boost to our regional economy with overnight visitor expenditure increasing by 8.5%.
National Visitor Survey data for the year ending June 2018 showed the Southern Great Barrier Reef region’s total number of visitors had increased by 11.8% to 2.1 million.
This surpassed the national average by nearly 5 percentage points and contributed significantly to the region’s strong growth in domestic tourism from both intrastate and interstate.
Key outcomes for the Southern Great Barrier Reef region were:
- Visitor nights in the region increased significantly by 10.7% to 7.7 million,
- 4.7% increase in the number of visitors (719,000 visitors) coming to the region for a holiday,
- Together with visitors coming to the region for business or to visit friends and relatives, these visitors stayed 7.7 million nights in the region, an increase of 10.7% from the previous year,
- Intrastate (within Queensland) visitation has increased by 9.5% from the previous year to reach 1.8 million visitors,
- Interstate holiday visitors increased by 8.5%, or a total of 135,000 visitors.
“The record-breaking figures are a testament to the hard work and collaborative efforts of our local operators,” says Mary Carroll, CEO of Capricorn Enterprise, the region’s peak tourism and economic development organisation.
“We continue to collaborate with local businesses and tourism operators to not only drive more visitors to the region, but also to attract the target demographic. We also work closely with our Southern Great Barrier Reef region tourism partners in Gladstone and Bundaberg.”
“The fact that we’ve achieved such outstanding results shows our partnerships are certainly heading in the right direction,” she said.
The Southern Great Barrier Reef region is the ideal destination for your next holiday.
