A record number of Australian holidaymakers staying longer in Tropical North Queensland has delivered the region its fifth consecutive quarterly record with domestic expenditure reaching $4 billion for the year ending September 2022.
Tourism Tropical North Queensland (TTNQ) CEO Mark Olsen said the National Visitor Survey results included three quarters with no domestic border closures resulting in a 60.1 per cent increase in overnight visitor expenditure from pre-pandemic figures.
“Tropical North Queensland received 2.4 million visitors in total including 1.4 million holiday visitors, up 21.7 per cent from the same period in 2019, who stayed a record 8.3 million nights, a very strong increase of 35.8 per cent,” he said.
“The average length of stay grew by 0.6 of a night to 5.6 nights with the average spend per visitor increasing by 48% to $1674.
“A record 365,000 Victorians returned to their favourite Australian destination once the border opened to them, making up almost half of the region’s 800,000 interstate visitors.
“It is really pleasing to see that our visitor numbers not only increased, but people are staying longer helping to strengthen the visitor economy in Tropical North Queensland.
“The longer stays reflect the growing understanding of visitors that there are many diverse experiences and landscapes to be enjoyed throughout the region from the Torres Strait down to the Cassowary Coast and west to the Gulf Savannah country.
“TTNQ’s marketing campaigns and media familiarisations showcase this diversity and educate consumers that a Tropical North Queensland holiday can be enjoyed year-round.
“This strong interest in the destination was also reflected in our digital website traffic which hit 1.9 million last financial year resulting in 312,000 operator referrals as visitors planned which tours to enjoy on their holiday.
“With our slow international recovery we need Australians to book another Tropical North Queensland holiday to keep the region’s operators busy.
“We hope our high level of visitor satisfaction will lead to more repeat visitation with Cairns continuing to be one of the top 10 destinations in the world for visitor satisfaction, according to the Consumer Sentiment Index.”