Community
9 February, 2024
$7.5bn target
THE region’s tourism industry has set a goal of annual visitor spending to top $7.5 billion by 2032 – the year of the Brisbane Olympics.
The target was revealed by Tourism Tropical North Queensland chief executive officer Mark Olsen after visitor expenditure had currently reached a record $4.8bn, up from $3.5bn in 2019, and after a period of doldrums between 2006-2014.
He told 170 people at Tuesday’s Cairns Chamber of Commerce lunch that the most optimistic scenario of $7.5bn was based on 7.12 per cent growth while the less positive case study was $6.3bn (4.7 per cent growth). In the middle ground is $6.7bn (5.6 per cent).
Mr Olsen said $6.3bn, estimated on the slowest growth of 4.7 per cent, would need:
Increased domestic and international flights or bigger planes involving 125,000-165,000 additional seats
Growing domestic market share of high value travellers requiring an estimated 5000-10,000 additional rooms by 2032
Supporting new visitor experiences, requiring an estimated $5bn in infrastructure and investment.
Mr Olsen believes if the industry pursues the ambitious target it will almost double current visitor spending in less than 10 years.
“If the region can reach the stretch growth of $7.5bn in total visitor expenditure in 2032, that’s approximately $4.2bn more in visitor spend per annum than the visitor economy generated in 2019,” Mr Olsen said.
“While all sectors of the economy will benefit from this, some sectors may see an even greater impact of the extra $4.2bn per annum, including beverage and food $1.3bn every year, $1bn in transport, $800m in attractions and experiences, $600m in accommodation and $500m in shopping,” he said.
Mr Olsen said the optimistic targets were despite $300m in forward bookings lost due to Tropical Cyclone Jasper and the following devastating floods.
“But we’ve been clawing that back to $280m and now $250m,” he said.
Mr Olsen said February was looking “hard”, while March was looking better, especially with Singapore Airlines’ wide-bodied jet starting and 20,000 visitors for Chinese New Year with hundreds arriving on direct China Eastern Airlines’ seasonal flights.
He said currently visitor numbers were back to 96 per cent of 2019 (pre-COVID) figures, with domestic numbers well above 2019, while international was still only at 52 per cent of 2019 numbers.
Visitor spending was currently 140 per cent of 2019, domestic at 172 per cent and international at 63 per cent. Airport passenger figures in January were at 101 per cent of 2019, while cruise ship visits would return to 2019 numbers in 2024.
Tourism Minister and Cairns MP Michael Healy told the lunch that in the past two years, the state’s tourism industry had “made headway from the profound economic challenges due to the domestic and global impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic”. “The state’s visitor economy has experienced strong recovery and growth,” he said.
Mr Healy said the state was “on track to achieve target of $44bn in annual Overnight Visitor Expenditure (OVE) by 2032, with record $34.3bn in total OVE in year ending September 2023.”
