The figures are widely reported and summaries of the
International Visitor Survey (IVS) and
National Visitor Survey (NVS) are available. Both data sets cover the year to September 2018.
Perhaps most remarkably, both international and domestic visitor expenditure over the year has grown by an impressive 12%. Expenditure has grown at more than twice the rate of the number of visitors delivering much improved yield. This may well be the largest growth figure ever achieved over a 12-month period, and particularly for domestic tourism it is a stellar result. Domestic tourism is still the mainstay of many regional destinations and for Queensland it makes up about 75% of total visitor expenditure. The figures also show that we still have our work cut out to disperse our international visitors more effectively to regional destinations, with the growth patterns for that sector a bit more patchy than the rest.
The additional $3 billion dollars this total growth has delivered to Queensland, support tens of thousands of new jobs across a broad range of businesses, keeping communities, towns and cities thriving. It is an enormous achievement for the countless small and large tourism businesses across the state to have delivered such a strong outcome in a very competitive market place. Particularly encouraging is the growth in average spend or yield, suggesting that the increasing focus on quality and service excellence by operators is paying dividends. QTIC will strengthen its efforts this year to support the quality agenda of operators with a revamped national Quality Tourism Framework – bringing together the previous Australian Tourism Accreditation Program, the Star Rating and the Tourism Awards.
The strong figures will give further confidence to investors and entrepreneurs who have played a key role in ramping up Queensland’s tourism potential over the last few years. Both smaller business improvements and large-scale new investments in different regions will continue to stoke growth. We are in a good place!
As the industry takes credit for this great result, it needs to be acknowledged that the commitment of the Queensland Government has made a significant difference to the outcome. Not just its continued support of its successful marketing agency, Tourism and Events Queensland, but also its unprecedented investment in new tourism programs to the tune of
$180 million over three years. These programs, and the collaboration with industry they facilitate, have made Queensland a far stronger competitor in the tourism market place. It shows that real industry-government partnership can work to deliver better outcomes for all Queenslanders, including tax payers.
From QTIC’s perspective, we thank all our members for supporting our efforts to make a difference and we thank the Queensland Government, particularly Minister Kate Jones, for engaging with such commitment in our industry.
This year is full of opportunities. So now is the time to build on the momentum, work together and make all our businesses even stronger and more successful!
