Monthly snapshot data for March from Tourism Research Australia released this morning shows domestic tourism continuing to power ahead with expenditures up 58.3% from a year ago (to $6.04 bn). Queensland is leading the charge with expenditures up 88.5% (to $1.36 bn) while NSW (+67.6%) and Victoria (+34.7%) grew more modestly.
Within Queensland the Regions, outside of Brisbane and the Gold Coast, are strongest with expenditures up 88.6%.
Although we are still waiting for the March quarter National Visitor Survey (which will provide us with a more comprehensive breakdown of the regional data) we can sum the past 12 months of Snapshot data to get at least a good approximation of what the NVS will show. Annualising the data shows expenditures across Australia are down 42.2% but in Queensland the drop is just 36.6%, while in Regional Queensland the fall is only 26.0% while Greater Brisbane and the Gold Coast were down 49.8%. Given the importance of the Tropical North to those regional numbers we can expect to see solid out-performance from TNQ when we get the March quarter NVS data.