Queensland welcomes more Australian visitors in 2014

An increasing number of Australians travelled to Queensland in 2014 for business related travel, according to new figures released today.

Minister for Tourism and Major Events, Kate Jones, said Tourism Research Australia’s latest National Visitor Survey revealed 18.6 million Australians stayed 80.1 million nights in Queensland in 2014.

“Queenslanders increased travel within the state by seven per cent to 13.1 million trips and now make up 70 per cent of all domestic visitors to the state,” Minister Jones said.

“But there is still more to done.

“Building Queensland’s reputation as a premier tourism destination is a key priority for the Palaszczuk Government because we know a strong tourism sector means jobs for Queenslanders.

“That’s why during the election we committed to reversing the cuts made by the LNP to Tourism and Events Queensland, and providing four-year funding guarantees for proposed new major events.

“We also committed $100 million to protecting the Great Barrier Reef and the 60,000 jobs it supports in the Queensland economy.

“This survey demonstrates the need to work with industry to grow Queensland’s share of domestic holidaymakers.

“The Palaszczuk Government will focus on achieving this through investment in marketing and events, boosting productivity, increasing industry uptake of digital technology and creating jobs.

Visitor spending remained stable at $13.7 million, a result of softening holiday travel.

Minister Jones said while holiday travel was down, business visitation buoyed the overall result with an increasing number of business visitors to Brisbane, Southern Queensland Country, the Sunshine Coast, Southern Great Barrier Reef, Tropical North Queensland and Mackay.

More information about Tourism Research Australia’s National Visitor Survey for the year ended December 2014 is available at www.teq.queensland.com

Emma Smith (Minister Jones’ Office) 0417 405 879