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The rampant inflation of international plane tickets since before the pandemic has failed to dampen the attractiveness of Queensland to visitors from abroad, with spending from this demographic in the Sunshine State now nominally higher than pre-COVID levels.
Data released today by Tourism Research Australia found that in the 12 months to the end of March Queensland’s visitor economy reached $34.1 billion in overnight expenditure (OVE) from 24.9 million domestic and 2.1 million international visitors, which equates to $93.2 million on average per day.
The results come ahead of an expected lift in passenger numbers at Brisbane Airport over the winter school holiday period, including an 18 per cent jump in international arrivals thanks to the launch of many new flight routes.
Signifying a 100.9 per cent recovery on 2019, visitors from abroad spent $6.1 billion over the same period in Queensland. The effects of inflation over that time mean the economic impact is still a real decline on 2019, but the industry will take any kind of numbers in the black that it can get.
The leading source markets by OVE being New Zealand, China, the United Kingdom, Japan, and the United States of America.
New Zealand was Queensland’s biggest source market with visitation close to what it was before COVID-19 at 93.5 per cent, while visitors also tended to spend more time in the state.
Visitors from New Zealand and the USA both generated more OVE than ever before, whilst the UK and Japan source markets also exceeded the amount of OVE generated in 2019.
The state also welcomed a record 95,000 visitors from South Korea and 72,000 from Canada, whilst a total of 27,000 arrivals from Thailand represent a 41.4 per cent increase when compared with 2019.
Two regions reached new international OVE records, with Brisbane bringing in $3.2 billion and the Sunshine Coast receiving $371.1 million. In addition, the Whitsundays ($171.1 million), Southern Great Barrier Reef ($92.5 million), Fraser Coast ($59.9 million) and Outback Queensland ($17.9 million) surpassed their respective 2019 international OVE levels.
Domestically, Australia saw a contraction in holiday visitation overall during the period as well as fewer visitor nights spent around the country.
Queensland's 27.3 per cent share of total domestic holiday visitor spend is 0.6 percentage points ahead of its 2019 share, amidst strong headwinds that have been building for the industry including economic factors, the rising cost of living and competition from international destinations.
Additionally, the March quarter in particular was a challenge for Queensland as the state faced the impacts of severe weather resulting in holiday cancellations and market hesitancy in multiple parts of the state, as well as strong travel experienced in other states for the Taylor Swift Eras Tour.
Queensland benefitted from the ongoing return of business travel, as 5.7 million domestic business visitors contributed a record $5.4 billion to the state’s economy in overnight expenditure. It puts the valuable business travel market 20.8 per cent higher than 2023, and 36.2 per cent higher than 2019.
Across Queensland’s tourism regions, the Fraser Coast welcomed a record 891,000 visitors, up 14.7 per cent on average across the last three years, while Townsville and the Sunshine Coast held visitation numbers year-on-year.
Some regions achieved increased visitor expenditure despite decreasing visitation numbers, while immediate recovery activities on the Gold Coast meant holiday visitation was balanced over the year.
"Queensland is the top performer in the recovery of international visitor spending which is great news for our industry," says Queensland Tourism Minister Michael Healy.
"Latest figures show we’re on track to achieve our target of a $44.4 billion tourism industry by 2032.
"Record levels of visitor spend generated by guests from New Zealand and the United States of America has been a key driver, alongside a surge of arrivals from South Korea and Canada, however we are yet to see a full return of visitors from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan – a challenge shared across Australia."
Tourism and Events Queensland CEO Patricia O’Callaghan says it has been a rollercoaster for Queensland’s tourism sector since COVID-19, going from the challenges brought by travel restrictions to the incredible highs of a domestic tourism boom.
"We’re now entering a new period of normalisation that holds some promising signs in the face of strong headwinds that we know have been building over some time," O'Callaghan says.
"The return of international visitors sooner than we expected, and the much-anticipated return of business travel is balanced by the challenge of Aussie holidaymakers looking abroad, and others being limited in where they can travel by rising costs at home.
"We’ll continue to work together with the industry to showcase Queensland as a world class holiday destination, with our recent campaign ‘Queensland is Bluey’s world in real life’ a prime example of that in action. We’ve already sent more than 150,000 leads to industry in the first weeks of the campaign, in what has been our biggest campaign in more than a decade, truly centred around conversion."
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