Team effort for growth pays off!
Posted on January 23rd, 2019
Team Effort for Tourism Growth Pays Off!
Earlier this month, Tourism Research Australia (TRA) released the official IVS (International Visitor Survey) and NVS (National Visitor Survey) data to the year ending September 2018, which revealed some fantastic growth for Queensland and some record figures for our greater Southern Great Barrier Reef Destination, which takes in the three tourism regions of Capricorn, Gladstone/1770 and Bundaberg.
Visitors are categorized into three main statistical areas: Holiday Visitors , Business Visitors and Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR).
152,000 international visitors to the SGBR spent a total of $106.7 Million which was a 15.3% increase in expenditure from the previous year.
2.1 Million domestic visitors (an increase of 10.2%) to the SGBR spent a total of $1.2 Billion which was an increase in expenditure of 17.3% and a new annual record for our SGBR destination. The total number of visitors included a 14% growth in holiday visitors (766,000) and a 30.1% growth in business visitors (630,000), with VFR making up 551,000 visitors and 153,000 other.
Visitors to our Capricorn region (from the Keppel Islands to the Central Highlands) make up just over half of both the geographic area and the statistical data of the total Southern Great Barrier Reef destination, with roughly a third each of our visitors being holiday, business and VFR.
What is really exciting is that we saw a record 8.3 Million domestic visitor nights to the SGBR to the year ending September 2018, a 20% increase on the previous year, This continued growth reflects the strong collaboration between our Tourism Industry Operators, Regional Tourism Organisations, Industry Associations (for example, Caravanning Qld), Event Organisers and their fantastic volunteers, partner Local Government Authorities, Tourism Trade Partners, Tourism and Events Queensland (fully funded by the State government), Tourism Australia (fully funded by the Federal government).
Every single business owner and their staff play a significant role each and every single day in ensuring all of our visitors receive exceptional service and provide fantastic word of mouth/social media: – our cleaners, receptionists, chefs, wait staff, retail customer service team members who work in our accommodation, cafe/restaurants, chemists, service stations, hair dressers and beauty salons, supermarkets and bottle shops, our visitor information centre volunteers, give yourself a pat on the back for helping our destination grow!
On the 9th January, the Hon Kate Jones MP, Minister for Innovation and Tourism Industry Development summed it up in her message to our thirteen (13) Queensland Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO) Network CEOs.
“Happy New Year! I’m really looking forward to working with you in 2019 to continue to build Queensland’s tourism industry.
Today’s record visitor and tourism expenditure data, clearly shows Queensland is strengthening our position nationally and globally.
For the first time since 2008, our tourism industry has outperformed NSW and Victoria – building our market share at a greater rate.
I wanted to thank you all for your collaboration and leadership to achieve these results.
Increasing Queensland’s market share has been a major focus of our work alongside our record overnight visitor expenditure.
It is a real testament to the excellent work of everyone in our industry.
Let’s continue to build on these positive results by working together to grow our great industry.
Please pass on my congratulations to your Boards, members and local operators.
Best wishes, Kate.”
And thanks for your continued support Kate! Until next time, Mary Carroll, CEO Capricorn Enterprise
