THE cold weather hasn’t deterred visitors as Noosa continues to be the destination of choice for a growing domestic tourism market, according to the latest National Visitor Survey results released by Tourism Research Australia.
Thanks to interstate visitors, Noosa’s domestic numbers grew 15.7 per cent for the year ending March 2015, compared with just 7.3 per cent for the rest of the Sunshine Coast region and 5.1 per cent for Queensland as a whole.
Importantly, the high-spending interstate market surged for Noosa, increasing 22 per cent, while the rest of the Sunshine Coast grew just 11 per cent.
These results reinforce Noosa as one of Queensland’s strongest growth destinations.
Other tourism regions, including the Gold Coast, Fraser Coast and the Whitsundays experienced significant decreases in domestic visitor numbers, while tropical North Queensland grew just 0.2 per cent.
Tourism Noosa CEO Damien Massingham said this strong result was testament to the commitment of Noosa’s industry to reinvest in tourism and also to the innovative marketing campaigns delivered by Tourism Noosa in partnership with members.
“Noosa’s recently refreshed tourism profile, with millions of dollars invested in refurbishments and new businesses, has generated strong national publicity for Noosa, and this has obviously refreshed the desire to visit, particularly among visitors from Sydney and Melbourne,” he said.
“The results for Noosa from Melbourne are particularly strong, with numbers up 53 per cent, nights up 10 per cent and spend increasing by 12 per cent.“This outstanding growth in visitation has therefore brought significant economic benefits for all those who live in Noosa.
“These results also clearly demonstrate that our destination is helping to drive regional awareness and that the entire Sunshine Coast is benefiting from Noosa’s investment in tourism marketing” Mr Massingham said.
Councillor Frank Wilkie said Tourism Noosa had delivered ongoing campaigns into these interstate markets to keep Noosa top-of-mind and provide compelling reasons to book.
“Tourism Noosa’s Spring Racing campaign last November had high visibility in these interstate markets, while the most recent campaign, Noosa You Could be Here, dominated Melbourne in June and included digital billboards, a Noosa tram, print and social media and a week-long consumer activation at Federation Square,” he said.
“These latest figures are a result of the effective work that Tourism Noosa has done over the past year and the entire Noosa community is now benefiting from this through visitors spending more throughout our Noosa economy.”
