Australians visiting the Sunshine Coast increased by a record 6% to 2.7 million people in the year ending September 2011.
The annual National Visitor Survey data was released yesterday by Tourism Research Australia.
Sunshine Coast Destination Ltd (SCDL) CEO, Steve Cooper is pleased with the results confirming the Sunshine Coast’s performance in the domestic market remains solid and provides optimism for the local industry.
“Not only have our overnight visitors increased by a record 6% to 2.7 million people but expenditure has also held steady at $1.7 billion for the year ending September 2011. Among regional areas, spending by domestic overnight visitors was the highest on the Sunshine Coast.
“Domestic visitors to the Sunshine Coast are extremely valuable and account for approximately 90% of our market. Other Queensland regions saw a decline in overnight visitors for the same period which tells us the Sunshine Coast is remaining competitive in the marketplace. Furthermore, these encouraging results confirm the domestic marketing campaigns rolled out by SCDL in the past 12 months in partnership with our industry are continuing to reap positive results.
“There is no doubt the last 12 months have been challenging but many operators have reported strong Easter, June and September school holiday periods.
“With summer holidays starting there is early indications for a busy holiday period but there’s still time to plan a break to the Naturally Refreshing Sunshine Coast,“ said Mr Cooper.
