Latest tourism figures released by the Queensland Government, which highlights overseas visitor expenditure of almost $5 billion across Queensland in 2015, further enhances the Douglas Shire’s position as a key destination for international visitors.

“For the first time, more than 2.3 million international travellers touched down in Queensland, an increase of 9% on the previous 12 months.

“These visitors led to a 19% uplift in expenditure to $4.9 billion continuing the growth across the State,” said premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

And Tara Bennett, Executive Officer, Tourism Port Douglas Daintree, said the Douglas Shire is well positioned to benefit from this growth with strong support from industry partners as well as consumer destination awareness in key international markets.

“The reported increases in visitor expenditure confirm anecdotal reports from operators of a higher visitor spend in the second half of 2015.

“The December international visitor figures are a fantastic result for Queensland. Current global economic conditions are providing a favourable environment for tourism growth, particularly to Australia.

“The impressive growth from the US, which is up 19% and the UK, 227,000 visitors represented an 8% rise, are a standout for the Douglas region with these being two of our top three inbound source markets,” she said.

Ms Bennett said the infrastructure investment involving the Sheraton Mirage refurbishment; Hemingway’s Brewery and The Reef Marina upgrade are a strong sign of investor confidence in the region.

“The projects also provide an excellent platform for Tourism Port Douglas Daintree to inspire interest in the destination and the ability for local operators to convert the interest into visits. Increased aviation access, both domestic and international, recently announced by Cairns Airport provides further opportunities for the region to continue to expect long term growth in visitor numbers.” 

Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ) Chair Bob East said strong dispersal across the state underlined the continuing growth of tourism across regional Queensland.

“There has never been a better time for our sector with the fastest growing region on Queensland’s doorstep, in a similar time zone and just one flight away.

“In addition to securing additional inbound aviation opportunities, we are stepping up our effort to sell Queensland’s unique experiences to the world through targeted marketing and a world-class event portfolio.

“The opportunities are there for sustained future growth to deliver significant gains for the visitor economy,” said Mr East.

Minister for Tourism and Major Events Kate Jones said China remains Queensland’s largest market in terms of overnight visitor expenditure, recording a massive 51% increase to more than $950 million for the year.

“The total number of visitors from China rose to 399,000, an increase of 21%, while 197,000 people came from the U.S. which was 19 per cent more than the previous year and there were 227,000 visitors from the U.K, growth of eight per cent.

“New Zealand remains Queensland’s largest international market in terms of total visitor numbers with 424,000 visiting the state while expenditure increased four percent to $556.2 million,” she said.