Domestic overnight visitor expenditure is 69.7% higher than it was before the pandemic with a record 2.5 million domestic visitors in 2022-23 bringing $4.3 billion to Tropical North Queensland. The average spend per visitor was up 10.7% to $1674, total expenditure grew by 36.4% over the year and visitor numbers were up 23.3%.
The record number of 542,000 business visitors grew by 43.6%, while holiday visitors grew by 20% to 1.4 million. The largest increase was from interstate visitors which is up 70.2% year on year to 924,000 and 28.9% higher than pre-pandemic levels.
These included 366,000 visitors from New South Wales which increased by 113.6% and 389,000 from Victoria, up 52.5%. Intrastate visitors reached a record 1.6 million on the back of record intraregional travel which grew 19% to 765,000. There were 477,000 VFR visitors, up 21.8%.
[Domestic expenditure boost for TNQ – TTNQ Fortnightly Pulse – 4 October 2023]