Asian markets help buoy Queensland's tourism industry

Asia has emerged as the shining light for Queensland's tourism industry in what has been a tough year for our $3.7 billion inbound tourism sector, Minister for Tourism, Manufacturing and Small Business Jan Jarratt said today.

Ms Jarratt said Tourism Research Australia's latest International Visitor Survey has shown two million international visitors came to Queensland in the year ending March 2011andnbsp; one per cent more than the previous year.That is despite a 3 per cent decline in the holiday market and a 7 per cent decline in what visitors to Queensland are spending on their trips to the State, Ms Jarratt said.

There is no doubt the past 12 months have been tough as we have dealt with floods and cyclones, the ongoing effects of the global financial crisis on our key UK, US and European markets, a soaring Aussie dollar and natural disasters in Japan and New Zealand, she said.I don't think we could imagine a more perfect storm of events to challenge our tourism industry but there is some good news from many of our international markets, particularly out of Asia.

The number of Chinese visitors to Queensland for example continues to grow by double digits and other key Asian markets including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Korea also continue to perform strongly.Ms Jarratt said 197,000 Chinese visited Queensland in the year ending March 2011andnbsp; up 29 per cent on the year before, and they stayed 3.5 million nightsandnbsp; more than a million extra nights over the year.

This can in part be attributed to our strong partnership with China Southern Airlines, which started direct flights between Guangzhou and Brisbane last November.These three times a week flights make it easy for Chinese visitors to fly directly to Queensland and transfer to a range of our destinations.

Ms Jarratt said Chinese visitors spent $388 million on their Queensland trips in the year ending March 2011andnbsp; $62 million more than the previous period.The latest data shows Gold Coast is Chinese visitors most popular Queensland destination, with 121,000 Chinese spending 792,000 nights.

This was 15,000 visitors and 195,000 nights more than during the year before, making China again one of the most important international markets for the region.Tropical North Queensland is also increasingly popular for Chinese visitors with 74,000 spending 198,000 nights in the year to Marchandnbsp; 27,000 more visitors and 71,000 more nights than the year before.

Ms Jarratt said in the year ending March 2011, Hong Kong visitor numbers tp Queensland remained steady at 39,000, Singaporean visitors increased nine per cent to 50,000, Malaysian visitors increased 13 per cent to 45,000, Koreans increased eight per cent to 71,000 and Indonesian visitors were up 13 per cent to 17,000.

Queensland's largest international markets of Japan and New Zealand saw visitor numbers remain steady at 209,000 and 400,000 respectively.However, Ms Jarratt said the full impact of the natural disasters on travel plans from both countries were not fully reflected in the March figures.

The number of Brits visiting the State declined 12 per cent to 220,000 and the number of US visitors also declined three per cent to 150,000.While Australia escaped the worst of the global financial crisis, the same can't be said of those in the UK, US and Europe, as they continue to feel the pinch of slow economies which has seen them take fewer holidays, or holiday closer to home for shorter periods, Ms Jarratt said.

The strong Australian dollar has also had an impactandnbsp; while it hasn't significantly affected the number of international visitors coming, it does mean that their money doesn't go as far once they are here so many are not staying as long or spending as much.Ms Jarratt said while the challenges of the past 12 months had been significant, the long-term outlook for Queensland's international markets was positive.

She said as part of the $12 million State and Federal Government's flood and cyclone recovery funding, $4 million was being invested in activity in Queensland's top international markets, including $1 million targeting New Zealanders as Queensland's largest international market, $800,000 for a global youth and adventure campaign to get backpackers to Queensland; $700,000 for a global publicity blitz which included bringing 200 international journalists to Queensland; $400,000 each for activity in Japan, China and the UK; and $300,000for marketing activity across the rest of Queensland's international markets.

Much of this activity began rolling out in March so we will hopefully begin to see some impact in the coming months, she said.In the meantime, Tourism Queensland's 13 international offices are continuing to work closely with our airline and travel trade partners to make sure Queensland remains top of mind when overseas visitors are thinking about their next overseas holiday.

Source = media-newswire