Minister for Tourism and Fair Trading
The Honourable Peter Lawlor

15 September 2010 

Melburnians love to holiday in Queensland with 22 precent more booking a break in the Sunshine State, according to new figures released today.

Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor said Tourism Research Australia’s National Visitor Survey for the year ended June 2010 showed 657,000 Melburnians holidayed in Queensland – 22 percent more than the previous year.

This compared to an eight percent increase in Melburnian holidaymakers seen in other interstate destinations.

“Melburnians also took longer holidays in Queensland than the national average – staying five million nights, which was up 14 percent from the previous year,” Mr Lawlor said.

“The Gold Coast was Melburnians’ favourite Queensland destination, with 296,000 staying 1.9 million nights on holiday on the Coast over the year.

“This was 33 percent more holidaymakers and 30 percent more nights than last year.

“More Melburnians are also heading further north for their holidays, with 129,000 holidaying on the Sunshine Coast (up 14%) and 155,000 holidaying in Tropical North Queensland (up 26%) during the year.”

Mr Lawlor said Melburnians spent an average eight nights holidaying in Queensland – two more nights than they spent in other interstate destinations.

“Much of this growth is due to Jetstar, Tiger and Virgin Blue adding capacity and services to Queensland, along with Tourism Queensland’s aggressive marketing campaigns.

“Queensland’s relaxed lifestyle, fantastic outdoor climate and our friendly locals are huge drawcards for Southerners looking to get away.”

Mr Lawlor said the other good news was Australian holidaymakers spent more than $6 billion in Queensland in the year to June 2010 – five percent more than during the previous year.

Overall visitors to Queensland declined two percent to 15.7 million in the year to June 2010, however those who visited stayed longer and spent more, with nights up five percent to just under 71 million and total overnight visitor expenditure up one percent to $11.5 billion.

He said the decline in overall visitor numbers could be attributed to fewer Queenslanders travelling within the state and a drop in visitors from New South Wales, particularly from Sydney.

“While the number of Queenslanders travelling within the state dropped five percent to 10.5 million in the year to June 2010, those who did travel spent longer in the state, with nights increasing three percent to 37.4 million.

“Likewise, Queensland received fewer visitors from New South Wales, with numbers down one percent to just under three million, however the number of nights they spent in Queensland increased four percent to 16 million.”

Mr Lawlor said Tourism Queensland would continue its aggressive tactical marketing activities during the rest of the year, and was soon to introduce a new, invigorated Queensland brand which would help keep the state at the forefront for holidaymakers.

“The Bligh Government is committed to supporting tourism jobs through the good times and the bad – more than 122,000 Queenslanders are directly employed in tourism and it’s worth $9.2 billion to our economy.”