Noosa’s tourism operators are gearing up for a hat-trick of long weekends this month to deliver a bumper holiday season.
Tourism Noosa chief executive officer Melanie Anderson said the combination of three long weekends in a row, along with three weeks of school holidays between Queensland, NSW and Victoria, has strengthened forward bookings to an average of 70 per cent across the region for the entire month of April.
“This is about 10 per cent higher than last year and more than 15 per cent higher than in 2019. It’s even stronger in Noosa Heads, at 76 per cent,” Ms Anderson said.
“I would encourage visitors to get out and about and explore beyond the beach and explore our beautiful coastal, river and hinterland villages – our tourism operators are looking forward to welcoming you.”
For the Easter long weekend, bookings are around 84 per cent (almost 90 per cent in Noosa Heads) – about 10 per cent stronger than in 2019 and around the same as last year.
“We see strong bookings continue after Easter (75 per cent) and after the Queensland school holidays have finished, as NSW and Victoria still have another week of holidays,” Ms Anderson said.
“The southern school holidays flow into the Anzac Day long weekend, which is now at around 73 per cent booked. Labour Day long weekend is a little lower at 62 per cent occupancy, but we’d expect this to lift in the next couple of weeks.”
As a comparison, other normal weekends in May are now averaging about 50 per cent occupancy, and the Labour Day weekend last year was only about 45 per cent booked at this time.
Noosa Blue general manager Ryan Rae said it was shaping up to be a bumper holiday season.
“We are hoping this flows into the winter months as well, particularly with the New Zealand direct flights commencing in July and the world slowing opening up again,” he said.
“We are really looking forward to having some consistency in the market in general, particularly after the challenging past two years.”
Aspire Property Management’s Noosa Luxury Holiday’s manager Michal Svoboda said their team was ready for a busy, three-week Easter period.
“Easter is booked reasonably solidly from the first week of the Queensland Easter, school holidays, with bookings increasing from 8 April when NSW and Victoria start their two-week holiday,” he said.
“With borders only opening in January, there are many families for whom this will be a first opportunity to get away in a very long time due to lock-downs.
“What our team and the whole Noosa tourism industry provides is just so very important to many people within our broader community. We are looking forward to welcoming our guests and working hard over the holidays to make sure everything is well-managed, so they can relax, unwind, and enjoy some well-earned time off during their stay with us.”
The recent announcement that the Sunshine Coast Airport would be the base for Bonza Airlines, opening up access to 17 new destinations, was fantastic news for Noosa and the Sunshine Coast, Ms Anderson said.
Australia’s only independent low-cost carrier, Bonza, recently made the largest network announcement in Australian aviation history, and is now opening its doors for pilot and cabin crew applications.
“The influx of travellers from these new destinations will provide great opportunities for tourism growth as well as providing employment opportunities for the region. This is great news all around,” she said.
Initially, around 200 roles will be available, with further growth expected.
“Recruitment, for largely pilots and cabin crew roles, comes at a time when the aviation industry needs a welcome shot in the arm, domestic tourism demand is building and Bonza is fast growing followers excited about our mission to give Aussies more choice when it comes to holidays,” Bonza chief executive officer Tim Jordan said.
