Australians continue to spend more on Queensland holidays

Australians are spending up in Queensland with a $330 million dollar boost in 2013, showing the Government is delivering on its election promise to grow tourism as one of the four pillars of the economy.

National visitors have spent $13.8 billion on trips to Queensland in 2013 according to new figures released by Tourism Research Australia.

Minister for Tourism, Major Events, Small Business and the Commonwealth Games Jann Stuckey said these figures show another year of visitor expenditure growth for Queensland’s tourism industry, building further momentum as we continue into 2014.

“The Newman Government moved quickly to get the tourism industry back on track after Labor’s mismanagement, to restore confidence and boost visitation by delivering our DestinationQ initiative,” Ms Stuckey said.

“These numbers are reflective of the hard work by the industry in partnership with the Newman Government.”

Ms Stuckey said Queensland had welcomed 17.6 million Australians in 2013.

“Queensland continues to see strong growth from the important New South Wales market with around 1.7 million Sydneysiders visiting the state in 2013, boosted by a 13 per cent increase in holiday travel,” Ms Stuckey said.

“At a regional level Townsville, the Whitsundays and Brisbane were the standouts with visitor spending increasing 21, 18 and 7 per cent respectively.

“Our tourism industry blossomed after a tough period under Labor to then have weather events impacting overall results in 2013.

“The Queensland Government continues to support the industry as we strive to increase domestic and international overnight visitor expenditure from $15 billion to $30 billion by 2020.”

More information about Tourism Research Australia’s National Visitor Survey for the year ended December 2013 can be found at – www.te.queensland.com

[ENDS] 12 March 2014

Media Contacts:  Natalie Wynne 0439 291 268

Tourism and Events Queensland – 3535 5474