Visitors reach record high
But how can we capitalise on region’s rural charm?
INTERNATIONAL visitors to the Southern Queensland Country tourism region were at an all-time high in the 201718 financial year.
New data released by the State Government revealed 48,000 international visitors came to the region in the past financial year.
This broke the 2016-17 record of 46,000.
Southern Queensland Country Tourism chief executive officer Mary-Clare Power said the record-high visitor numbers were a positive sign.
“We still have a real challenge in this space though,” she said.
“Our spend is quite low, especially when you look at the average length of stay of visitors into the Southern Queensland Country.”
On average, international visitors spend 32 nights in the region.
“This is an indication that most international visitors are backpackers, working on farms, picking fruit, so their spend per night is quite low,” Ms Power said.
“On average they spend $1400 here. That’s nothing to sneeze at but they are here on average for such a long time.
“We still have got a lot of work to do to try and get that spend up in the regions.”
Ms Power said there were strategies the organisation was working on to increase international visitation, including working with tour providers to add the region onto itineraries that included Brisbane and the Gold Coast, providing a country experience.
She said a main focus at the moment was increasing visitation from South Korea, with a delegation of tourism industry representatives visiting the region last week.
“The number of Koreans visiting Queensland has grown by about 10 per cent since 2015, but they are now starting to look beyond our state’s spectacular coastline for what lies in country areas.
“They want to visit the city and coast, take in the reef and beaches, then head inland to enjoy a true country welcome.”