More bad news for TNQ in the National Visitor Survey

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 …read more

Strong jobs growth. QLD strongest growth since GFC

The ABS data for Labour Force in August has shown a very strong growth in employment (up 54,200, seasonally adjusted) smashing market expectations of a 17,500 rise.  Back months were also revised higher. Employment is now up 325,600 in the past 12 months. Full-time employment reversed a decline in July …read more

Cairns Conus Trend “Job Seeker” rate hits lowest in almost 3 years

Regular readers will be well aware that there are various ways to look at the labour market; the standard “unemployment rate” being just one of them. Another, less well known measure, is provided by way of the Dept of Social Services data in their monthly payment recipients release (available here). …read more

Arrivals and Departures data shows tourism still booming

Today’s release of the Short Term Arrivals and Departures data for July shows tourism into Australia is still booming. Short Term Arrivals rose 8.8% y/y for the 12 months to July while Short Term Residents Departing were up 5.8%. The Chinese markets continue to lead the way with arrivals up …read more

GDP +0.8% q/q and +1.8% y/y. Queensland doing much better

The GDP data for the second quarter has shown a solid rebound from the weak data last quarter and is broadly in line with market expectations. On a seasonally adjusted basis GDP rose 0.8% for the quarter, or 1.8% from the same time a year ago. This brings the cumulative …read more

Regional Building Approvals; no joy for the North

The release of the regional building approvals data by the ABS today allows us to update our Conus Trend series for the SA4 and Local Govt Areas. What we find is a story of slightly weaker, but generally stable, approvals in the North. The Cairns SA4 region sees Trend approvals …read more

Chinese visitors to TNQ fall for first time in almost eight years

Further data from TRA for the TNQ region highlights the concern we flagged earlier today. Over the past year the once-booming Chinese sector of the market has seen a decline in the region of 1.2%. Chinese visitors to TNQ fell from 216,726 in the year to June 2016 to 214,082 …read more

International Visitor growth leaves Queensland behind

Today sees the release of the June quarter International Visitor Survey from Tourism Research Australia (full report available here); and although visitor numbers are up strongly it’s not a happy story for Queensland. Visitor numbers to Australia show a 8.7% y/y increase to almost 7.9 million (another new record high). …read more

Pete on radio 4CA this morning talking jobs and the economy in Cairns

Pete spoke to John MacKenzie on radio 4CA this morning about last week’s regional jobs data (see details here) and the impact the improving labour market was having on the broader Cairns economy. You can listen to the segment below.  

Cairns population growth beats Townsville in past decade; but both fall behind QLD

Data released today for Estimated Resident Populations in regional areas shows the population of the Cairns SA4 region climbed 18.1% in the decade to June 30th 2016 reaching 247,762. This was somewhat faster than estimated growth in Townsville SA4 which was +16% to 235,037. However, both regions fell behind growth …read more

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