PORT Douglas and Daintree tourism operators are enjoying an excellent start to the season with indications the trend will continue throughout the year, thanks in part to the way the school holidays fall across Queensland and two of the southern states.

Tourism Port Douglas and Daintree (TPDD) executive officer Tara Bennett said operators had seen strong visitation and touring during the Easter period, reporting an increase in trade of 10% or more over the same period last year.

 “The strong visitation over Easter was in part due to the states splitting their school holidays over three weeks, with New South Wales continuing for another week after Queensland and Victoria,” Ms Bennett said.

“This will be happening again in June/July, which will enable operators to maximise occupancy during this period.”

Ms Bennett said figures released from the Daintree River Ferry also showed visitors were dispersing, with the operator recording its busiest April ever, with 1654 one way and 8702 return journeys, around 1600 more than the previous year.

More than 80 per cent of respondents to TPDD’s survey of business performance across the accommodation, tour/attraction, services and retail/restaurant sectors said the Easter period was better than Easter 2016.
“Forward bookings are looking promising with many operators reporting either the same as last year through to much better than last year,” she said.

Ms Bennett said the survey results built on Tourism Research Australia data, which showed strong results for the year ending December 2016.

Figures released by TRA showed both domestic and international visitor numbers were on the increase, with an average annual growth rate of 1.4% and 7.4% respectively.

“Visitor nights in the Douglas region for the year ending December 2016 increased by 8.6% to 1.8 million for the domestic market, while the international market saw a 5.3% boost reaching 593,000.

“Totalling just over 2.4 million for the year, that’s a healthy increase on the 2.3 million visitor nights recorded for the period ending December 2015,” Ms Bennett said.

“All in all, the region looks set for a good season ahead, even better if this winter is a long, cold one in the south and people come north for some mid-season sunshine and warmth.”

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