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The June quarter National Visitor Survey from Tourism Research Australia was released this morning (see here for full details), and it confirms the deteriorating story for the region we’ve been discussing for some time (see commentary from last quarter).
Across the nation domestic overnight visits rose 5.2% y/y and were up 6.2% in Queensland. However, in our own region TNQ saw a decline of 4.0%. Of even greater concern is the fact that expenditure from those overnight visitors fell by 9.1% (which is more than a 10% decline when considered in real, inflation-adjusted terms). The average number of nights also fell from 5.11 nights year ago to 4.89 nights now. TNQ now accounts for just 1.93% of all Australian domestic overnight visits; its lowest share of the market since the post-Yasi period in 2011.
Domestic day-trips fared somewhat better and were up 2.6% y/y with expenditure up 0.8% y/y. However, this sector accounts for just 12% of total domestic expenditure in the region.
Overall total domestic expenditure (for both overnight and day trips) in TNQ fell 8.0% in the year to June 2017. With international expenditure in the region also falling slightly in June (down 0.4% y/y) despite the solid pick-up in international tourist numbers, we see total visitor expenditure in the region falling by 5.6% (or closer to 7.5% in real terms) over the year. This is a reduction in visitor spending of almost $200 million over the past 12 months and would go a long way to explaining the seeming disconnect between the “booming” tourism numbers being recorded and the reality on the ground for many operators in the Far North.
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