Published Friday, 14 December, 2007 at 10:30 AM
Minister for Tourism, Regional Development and Industry
The Honourable Desley Boyle
More people, more money, more nights: domestic tourists flock to Townsville
Domestic visitors to Townsville increased by a massive 33 per cent, in the year to September 2007, Tourism Minister Desley Boyle announced today.
Ms Boyle said the latest National Visitor Survey results underlined just what a big year it’s been for tourism in North Queensland.
“As well as the huge increase in visitors, the number of nights they stayed also increased by 24 per cent - injected $597 million into the local economy,” Ms Boyle said.
“More than 1.17 million domestic visitors came to Townsville in the year to September and they stayed more than 4.5 million visitor nights,” she said.
“This fantastic and continued growth shows that North Queensland has evolved as a tourism destination and now offers the experiences and quality of infrastructure to support significant tourism growth.”
Ms Boyle said the number of people visiting Townsville specifically for a holiday had increased by 64 per cent over the past two years, while those visiting friends and relatives grew by 50 per cent over the same period.
“Visitors to Townsville from within Queensland increased by 56 per cent to just over 974,000,” she said.
“It’s great to see Queenslanders holidaying locally with a 48 per cent increase in intrastate holidaymakers in the region over the past year.
“There was also a big increase of 38 per cent in domestic overnight business visitors to more than 325,000.”
Ms Boyle congratulated Tourism Queensland, Townsville Enterprise and the local tourism industry on their hard work in developing tourism in the region.
“These great results don’t just happen, they come from strong partnerships and a dedication to providing regional Queensland with employment and financial opportunities through tourism,” she said.
Townsville Domestic Tourism Snapshot (Year ending September 2007):
Total spending: $597 million
Total visitors: 1.2 million - up 33%
Total visitor nights: 4.5 million – up 24%
Business visitors: 325,200 - up 38%
Business visitor nights: 1 million - up 35%
Holiday visitors: 428,300 - up 29%
Holiday visitor nights: 1.8 million – up 34%
Intrastate visitors: 947,100 – up 56%
Ends
Media contact:
Minister Boyle: 3224 2007
Tourism Queensland: 3535 5010
14 December 2007
Ms Boyle said the latest National Visitor Survey results underlined just what a big year it’s been for tourism in North Queensland.
“As well as the huge increase in visitors, the number of nights they stayed also increased by 24 per cent - injected $597 million into the local economy,” Ms Boyle said.
“More than 1.17 million domestic visitors came to Townsville in the year to September and they stayed more than 4.5 million visitor nights,” she said.
“This fantastic and continued growth shows that North Queensland has evolved as a tourism destination and now offers the experiences and quality of infrastructure to support significant tourism growth.”
Ms Boyle said the number of people visiting Townsville specifically for a holiday had increased by 64 per cent over the past two years, while those visiting friends and relatives grew by 50 per cent over the same period.
“Visitors to Townsville from within Queensland increased by 56 per cent to just over 974,000,” she said.
“It’s great to see Queenslanders holidaying locally with a 48 per cent increase in intrastate holidaymakers in the region over the past year.
“There was also a big increase of 38 per cent in domestic overnight business visitors to more than 325,000.”
Ms Boyle congratulated Tourism Queensland, Townsville Enterprise and the local tourism industry on their hard work in developing tourism in the region.
“These great results don’t just happen, they come from strong partnerships and a dedication to providing regional Queensland with employment and financial opportunities through tourism,” she said.
Townsville Domestic Tourism Snapshot (Year ending September 2007):
Total spending: $597 million
Total visitors: 1.2 million - up 33%
Total visitor nights: 4.5 million – up 24%
Business visitors: 325,200 - up 38%
Business visitor nights: 1 million - up 35%
Holiday visitors: 428,300 - up 29%
Holiday visitor nights: 1.8 million – up 34%
Intrastate visitors: 947,100 – up 56%
Ends
Media contact:
Minister Boyle: 3224 2007
Tourism Queensland: 3535 5010
14 December 2007