Tourism and Events Queensland released its September report showing the sector had exceeded 2019 levels in occupancy rates, average daily rates and revenue per room.

TEQ said the performance was boosted by the school holidays.

Occupancy across the state was at 75 per cent, which was 2.8 per cent above the September 2019 levels.

The average daily rate was $261, which was $66 above the 2019 level and revenue per room was $196, a booming $96 above 2019.

While the supply of rooms was only slightly above the 2019 level, demand had jumped 4 per cent.

TEQ said at a regional level, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Mackay, Southern Great Barrier Reef, Southern Queensland, Sunshine Coast and Whitsundays all reported stronger or steady levels across relevant categories.

Compared with the Covid affected 2021, occupancy was up 24 per cent.

On the revenue per room measurement, the Whitsundays was now above $300, easily the highest in the state in September. The Whitsundays led the way in other categories as well.

The Sunshine Coast also performed well with revenue per room above $200.

It follows the release of a tourism report by the State Government last week which provided a road map to the 2032 Olympics and revealed that domestic tourists spent $19.6 billion in the last financial year – up 1.1 per cent compared to the pre-COVID period.

During the financial year, six Queensland regions had record-breaking Overnight Visitor Expenditure, including Tropical North Queensland, Sunshine Coast, Southern Great Barrier Reef, Whitsundays, Southern Queensland Country and Fraser Coast.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said that since its launch in August, the industry’s Seize The Days campaign had driven more than 200,000 visits to Queensland.com, sending more than 50,000 leads to industry.

“We expect this campaign will bring in 6.7 million visitors, spending $4.4 billion,” she said.