GOLD COAST STILL PROVES A FAVOURITE WITH INTERNATIONAL VISITORS

International tourists are spending longer on the Gold Coast, with new figures showing a 10 per cent boost in visitor nights, says Tourism Minister Margaret Keech.

Mrs Keech said the latest International Visitor Survey (IVS) also showed that 40 per cent of all international visitors holidaying in Queensland made a Gold Coast stopover.

“The Gold Coast has always been one of our State’s most loved holiday destinations, and it’s no wonder that well over one third of our international visitors to Queensland make a stop at the Gold Coast,” she said.

“It is fantastic to see that international visitors are choosing to stay longer while they enjoy all that this diverse and exciting region has to offer.

“These strong results were driven by increases in both business tourism and those coming to the Gold Coast to visit friends and relatives.

“The number of visitors seeing friends and relatives grew by a very strong 25 per cent, while business tourism numbers were up 18 per cent.

“These two markets account for one fifth of the almost 900,000 international visitors to the region.”

Mrs Keech said holidaymakers to the Gold Coast were also staying longer.

“The holiday and leisure market is the region’s largest and figures from the last 12 months show that these visitors are also choosing to stay longer on the Gold Coast.

“Visitors nights for the holiday market were up by a positive nine per cent.”

Mrs Keech said the great results were a testament to the hard work being done by Tourism Queensland, Gold Coast Tourism and the industry.

“Tourism injected $765 million into the Gold Coast’s economy in the last calendar year, which is an increase of seven per cent, and is an excellent result to see such strong figures continuing to bolster Gold Coast tourism.

“More importantly this equals real economic returns and more job opportunities for Queensland communities.”

Media Contact: Jo Gibbons 3224 2007 or David Smith 3225 1005