National Visitor Survey reveals record visitor spend for Townsville North Queensland

The National Visitor Survey has revealed record visitor expenditure for Townsville North Queensland.

This data marks the first full 12 months of no COVID restrictions for the region.

Townsville Enterprise Director of Visitor Economy and Marketing, Lisa Woolfe said these results are outstanding compared to pre-covid numbers and demonstrated a strong recovery for the tourism sector.

“Our region’s tourism industry isn’t just back to business, we are performing better than ever with Townsville North Queensland achieving record Overnight Visitor Expenditure (OVE) of $1 billion which is an increase of almost 32 per cent on last year and up 29 per cent from 2019,” Mrs Woolfe said.

“The region also achieved a record number of visitor nights which was recorded at 4.9 million, this is up almost 16 per cent from last year and 2 per cent from 2019.”

“Brisbane remains our top source market, with 215,000 visitors and 1.2 million visitor nights. Interstate was up over 110 per cent on last year and 23 per cent on 2019. As key markets for our campaign activity, this is a positive sign our marketing efforts through the pandemic were successful.”

“Leisure visitation is up more than 100 per cent and 23 per cent from 2019. Traditionally, Townsville’s visitor mix was evenly split across business, leisure and visiting friends and relatives, but this swing to favour holiday visitors is a positive sign and a solid foundation for continued growth as new accommodation and tourism products hit the market this year.”

“Whilst we are celebrating these results, we won’t rest on our laurels. With international borders now open, domestic tourism will see headwinds, but we will continue to work with industry to promote our new destination brand.”

“We know domestic travel is more competitive than ever before, but with Townsville North Queensland showing strong growth projections and significant opportunity to support the State’s tourism strategy, now more than ever, we need to ensure the region continues to offer an exceptional visitor experience and remains top of mind for potential visitors.”