Domestic tourism gives hope for solid rebound
DESPITE the challenges this year, the Far North is already recording “good” results in accommodation bookings.
TTNQ boss Mark Olsen said the region had lost about $100 million between January 1 and March 31 this year due to the southern bushfires and coronavirus.
With aviation capacity reduced, that figure is $300m for the first quarter of 2020.
“We’re good compared to year on year (figures) in some sectors. Not everyone books this early for June and July but we’re seeing some good early signs in the accommodation sector,” he said.
“We’re seeing some good early signs for repeat travellers.
“We’ve seen some really good response in the caravan sector and accommodation sector and we’ll see how that transfers through to the experiences.”
Speaking to industry leaders at the launch yesterday, Ignite Travel CEO Ryan Thomas also said bookings for TNQ were up 171 per cent on the same time last year.
“While the rest of the country and the world has dropped off, Queensland and TNQ actually held up,” he said.
“The demand for this region is there and it’s going to come.
“Australians see a holiday as a right, they’re cancelling their European holidays and looking here.
“There will be a two-tothree-month window then all of a sudden all that pent-up demand will come back.”
Skyrail boss Craig Pocock said the start of the year had been tough, but he was optimistic.
“What we’ve done now is very clearly define what our key messages are … and put them together so as an operator we can leverage them to drive visitation,” he said.
Quicksilver managing director Tony Baker said now was the “go back into the domestic market” but admitted China was “a very important market for us to get back”.