STEP IT UP FNQ
TWO major Cairns sports events have contributed to a $100 million fitness tourism injection into the state’s economy in the past year.
Visitors competing in both the Cairns Ironman and UCI Mountain Bike World Championships were among 60,000 people to travel to Queensland with more than two-thirds staying on for a holiday.
Acting Tourism Industry Development Minister Shannon Fentiman said new research commissioned by Tourism and Events Queensland revealed 80 per cent of people who stayed on to holiday rated their experience very highly.
“Our tourism industry is now worth $25 billion and supports 225,000 Queenslanders, so the more events we can have the better,” she said.
“This is an emerging kind of tourism, so it’s important to understand what draws these visitors to Queensland.”
The mountain biking event, at the Smithfield trails in September, was expected to contribute about $15 million to the economy, while the boost from the Ironman festival in June is usually around $10 million.
Ms Fentiman described the Ironman as one of her top picks and said the state government would consider funding more fitness events in the future.
The research also found that 99 per cent of respondents considered Queensland Australia’s endurance event capital.
Respondents also said friendly and welcoming locals gave the state the edge over other event locations, alongside safety and world-class standard of competition across diverse terrain.
“We have these events year round ... so whether it’s ocean swimming or triathlons we have the beaches, the mountains whatever is needed for these events,” Ms Fentiman said.
Redlynch father and son Pascal and Kaito Levieille said having the World Championship event in Cairns last year had been inspiring.
Redlynch State College student Kaito, 14, is aiming to be selected in the junior Australian team this year and seeing the top competitors in Cairns had been inspiring.
“Cairns was a great event, it was really good to watch,” he said.
Mr Levieille said the city could be further enhanced as a top mountain bike venue with higher level coaches and more technical courses.
According to the Global Wellness Institute, wellness tourism will grow from the $563 billion to $808 billion by 2020 – with Australia ranked first in the top five growth leaders.
The nation recorded an 85 per cent increase in wellness trips, rocketing from 4.6 million to 8.5 million trips between 2013 and 2015.