China has emerged as the shining light for Tropical North Queensland’s tourism industry with new survey results revealing a whopping 76 per cent increase in Chinese visitors to the region, announced Minister for Tourism, manufacturing and Small Business Jan Jarratt.
Ms Jarratt said overall international visitor numbers to Queensland increased for the first time in three years, with the latest International Visitor Survey from Tourism Research Australia showing 1.4 million foreign holidaymakers travelled to Queensland in 2010 and highlighting Asia as the industry’s shining light.
“Overall visitor numbers to Queensland went up roughly four per cent compared to 2009, with Chinese tourist numbers increasing 23 per cent state-wide,” Ms Jarratt said.
“This makes China Queensland’s fastest growing international market with strong long-term growth potential and Tourism Queensland has invested heavily in the Chinese market to ensure Queensland remains top of mind for Chinese people looking to travel overseas.”
The study showed China had become Queensland’s fourth highest spending market. The 188,000 Chinese visitors who travelled to Queensland in 2010 spent $338 million, a massive 18 per cent increase on spending levels in 2009.
Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Premier and Economic Development in the Far North Steve Wettenhall said Queensland’s third largest market, Japan, had delivered its best result in five years with a 25 per cent increase in visitation to Tropical North Queensland.
“The Tropical North has attracted extraordinary increases in Japanese and Chinese visitation numbers, far surpassing the Queensland trend,” Mr Wettenhall said.
“The reinstatement of the Osaka – Cairns service in April 2010 has certainly had a direct impact on the number of Japanese travellers returning to Queensland.
“In 2010, the number of Japanese who travelled to Queensland increased by nine percent to 223,000, and also increased their spending one percent to $375 million.
“Despite a variety of challenges in 2010, it was heartening to see the tropical north not just hold, but grow its international market share.”
Korea was also a strong performer with 75,000 Koreans visiting Queensland last year, an increase of 21 percent.
Several other Asian markets also performed strongly in 2010:
- Hong Kong went up eight per cent to 41,000
- Singapore went up 19 per cent to 51,000
- Malaysia went up 10 per cent to 45,000
- Indonesia went up 13 per cent to 18,000
- Thailand went up 25 per cent to 10,000.
Mulgrave MP Curtis Pitt said Queensland had celebrated the arrival of a number of new services and added capacity in 2010 including China Southern’s direct flights from Guangzhou into Brisbane in November and the introduction of a new Auckland–to–Cairns service in March.
“The encouraging results we’re seeing out of these markets is evidence that the additional services have helped fuel increased international visitor numbers into Queensland and the Tropical North,” he said.
“But the lingering effects of the global financial crisis, coupled with the strength of the Australian dollar, have undoubtedly had an impact.”
International travellers spent an extra 725,000 nights in Queensland, but their overall spending decreased by three percent.
Visitation from key European markets France and Germany went down one per cent and nine per cent respectively.
Fortunately there were gains in the Scandinavian and Swiss markets which both went up five per cent, while visitors from Italy and the Netherlands remained steady.
International Visitor Survey data for the year ended December 2010
|
|
Total Visitors |
% change |
No. change |
Total Nights |
% change |
No. change |
Expenditure $m |
% change |
Dollar change $m |
| QUEENSLAND |
2,048,000 |
4% |
80,000 |
39,800,000 |
2% |
725,000 |
$3,780 |
-3% |
-$103 |
| Brisbane |
948,000 |
4% |
35,000 |
16,422,000 |
6% |
864,000 |
$1,362 |
2% |
$21 |
| Gold Coast |
817,000 |
0% |
4,000 |
8,076,000 |
5% |
361,000 |
$955 |
-6% |
-$57 |
| Tropical North Queensland |
686,000 |
5% |
35,000 |
6,109,000 |
-2% |
-127,000 |
$795 |
-2% |
-$18 |
| Sunshine Coast |
283,000 |
2% |
6,000 |
2,618,000 |
3% |
68,000 |
$240 |
8% |
$18 |
| Whitsundays |
204,000 |
-9% |
-19,000 |
1,167,000 |
-11% |
-141,000 |
$132 |
-15% |
-$24 |
| Fraser Coast |
169,000 |
-10% |
-18,000 |
671,000 |
-6% |
-46,000 |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
| Townsville |
131,000 |
-8% |
-11,000 |
1,486,000 |
11% |
150,000 |
$118 |
24% |
$23 |
| Central Queensland |
125,000 |
-2% |
-3,000 |
875,000 |
-33% |
-429,000 |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
| SEQC |
118,000 |
1% |
1,000 |
2,120,000 |
2% |
38,000 |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
|
|
Total Visitors |
% trend change |
Total Nights |
% trend change |
Expenditure $m |
% change |
Dollar change $m |
| Capricorn |
78,000 |
-3% |
573,000 |
5% |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
| Mackay |
49,000 |
-5% |
379,000 |
8% |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
| Bundaberg |
42,000 |
-2% |
690,000 |
10% |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
| Toowoomba |
36,000 |
-3% |
710,000 |
2% |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
| Outback |
24,000 |
-7% |
249,000 |
2% |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a – Expenditure data not available for some regions.
Source: International Visitor Survey, Tourism Research Australia.
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