Rowan Anderson

Journalist

Tourism boom grows in tropical north Queensland with the removal of mandates and restrictions following the pandemic.

Tourism Tropical North Queensland has announced $100 flight subsidies for interstate visitors to generate an extra 50,000 visitors’ nights over the next four months.

Flights to be help draw new Tropical North Queensland lovers

Chief Executive Officer Mark Olsen said the subsidy would be available from today for travel before November 20 to help generate an additional $14 million in visitor spend for the regional economy.

“Interstate travellers booking on any airline with Webjet before July 31 are eligible for the $100 subsidy, although the campaign may sell out earlier as we anticipate there will be strong demand,” he said.

“Tropical North Queensland has enjoyed a bumper school holiday period with very strong visitation in waves over the four weeks indicating that interstate visitors are returning after two years of low numbers.

Numbers show growth in interstate tourists

The region has seen a 9.3 percent rise in expenditure from overnight interstate visitors this year compared to 2019 with Australian visitors spending a record $2.7 billion in Tropical North Queensland during 2021 despite the loss of the key Sydney and Melbourne markets for much of the year.

Tourism Tropical North Queensland (TTNQ) Chief Executive Officer Mark Olsen said this growth was very positive.

“TTNQ has been actively targeting the Australian travellers who would typically travel overseas, and this has helped increase spend per night by 20 per cent on pre-COVID levels to $269 with an average of $1383 spent on each holiday.

“Airport passengers numbers reached more than 94,000 in the week starting June 27 when all eastern states were on school holidays, eclipsing the pre-pandemic level by almost 4000 passengers,” Mr Olsen said.

“The industry has excelled at meeting this strong demand and we want to ensure the whole region benefits from strong visitation over the next two months until visitor numbers peak once again with school holidays.

“TTNQ will continue to aggressively chase domestic visitors to drive demand for accommodation and experiences across Tropical North Queensland.

“Forward bookings are strong through to August and our website traffic indicates people have been planning their holidays ahead of the school holiday periods with a record 257,000 users in May including 95 per cent new users.

First timers to the tropical north a priority for TTNQ

“We have seen many first timers arrive in Cairns this year and others who have not visited in more than a decade and they have been wowed by the maturity of the destination and its extraordinary array of world-class experiences.

Tourism Tropical North Queensland has worked very hard to push world-class experiences throughout the region as a necessary part of any holiday in Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef and visitors are increasingly choosing quality accommodation for their stay.

“We needed to change the holiday mindset of domestic travellers wanting a fly and flop holiday to ensure our world-class experiences were supported,” Mr Olsen said.

“These figures show the strategy worked and our strong eco-luxury campaign activity should continue to educate Australians that our destination’s regenerative tourism experiences are just what they need.

“The strongest growth came from Brisbane residents with an increase of 10.8 per cent to a record 291,000 compared to 2019,” he said.

“Just 460,000 of our visitors were from interstate, which is not surprising given continued border closures throughout 2021.

“This is bringing a new wave of advocates for a Tropical North Queensland holiday.

“People realising that a week is nowhere near enough time to explorer the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s oldest rainforest and the accessible outback.”