International tourism grows but QLD and TNQ are both falling behind

Posted on June 7, 2017 by Pete Faulkner - Cairns, QLD, TNQ, Tourism, Uncategorized

Today’s release by TRA of the International Visitor Survey for March 2017 (available here) shows international visitors up by 9.2% y/y with expenditure up 8.1%.

Numbers to Queensland were also up strongly (+6.8%), although expenditure rose just 2.6% y/y. However, as a result the Sunshine State’s share of the international visitor market has fallen to an all-time low of just 33.4%.

In Tropical North Queensland things were somewhat better with visitors up 7.2%, although expenditure managed to drop by 0.8% on the back of significantly lower average regional expenditure per visit (down from $1,310 a year ago to just $1,212 now). TNQ also saw its share of the international market drop top 11.5%. Growth in key areas such as China and the US have slowed while Japan and the UK remained static.