Visitors to Noosa spent a record of almost $1.5 billion in the year ending September 2022, 40 per cent more than before the pandemic, while their numbers fell slightly to just under 2.2 million.
The total includes 1.1 million domestic overnight and 1.1 million day trip visitors whose numbers have fallen more than 6 per cent since 2019.
The latest National Visitor Survey released on Wednesday 21 December, shows overnight visitors have more than doubled their spend in five years to a record $1.34 billion, with interstate visitors again making their mark since borders reopened.
Tourism Noosa Acting chief executive officer Susan Ewington said the figures were welcome news for Noosa’s tourism industry in the lead-up to Christmas, following three years of uncertainty with COVID restrictions and more recent staffing shortages.
“The record spend is great news for Noosa’s economy and the thousands of people whose livelihoods rely on a strong tourism industry,” Ms Ewington said.
“It’s heartening to see that overnight visitors are staying longer and spending more in town, particularly interstate travellers who increased their length of stay to an average of just over 7 nights.
“Our marketing activity such as the recent Villages campaign has focused on encouraging visitors to explore the entire Noosa region and experience more of the wonderful activities on offer, so this has really paid off.”
Interstate spend reached a record of almost $700 million, out-stripping spend by Queenslanders for the first time in more than two years.
“Queenslanders really were the backbone of our industry during COVID-19 border closures and it’s been wonderful to see many of them rediscover Noosa,” Ms Ewington said.
“However, we’re again focusing our marketing on interstate travellers as they generally don’t drive here, they stay longer and spend more on activities, dining out and shopping.”
Interstate visitors’ average spend per person of almost $2000 is 40 per cent higher than pre-pandemic and is more than double the average spend of Queenslanders.
