In January, tourism spending in Queensland increased by $1.1 billion, compared with January 2022, to $3.2 billion. This was the biggest increase in dollar terms Australia wide, but Victoria had a slightly bigger percentage increase of 53 per cent to Queensland’s 51 per cent.

Nation-wide domestic overnight trips exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the first time.

It came as Brisbane Airport was expecting a record to break today with an expected 70,000 people to travel through the facility, making it the busiest day since Covid.

The airport said an expected 426,000 were expected to move through its terminals in the first week of the school holidays.

It said the unusually warm weather may have had an impact on travel plans.

The Trade and Investment Commission report tracks a remarkable period for the tourism sector which lost billions when interstate and international borders were closed. An estimated 50,000 tourism and hospitality jobs were lost during the pandemic in Queensland.

However, that problem has been reversed with many operators, particularly restaurants and cafes, unable to find enough staff to remain open when they want to.

Overall, Australian took 11 million overnight trips, spending almost $12 billion.

According to the Trade and Investment Commission data, spending during January was up 29 per cent compared with 2020.

Holiday travel drove the increase and spending was across all areas but the largest increases were in accommodation, food and drinks and petrol.

There was strong spending in all the states except for Tasmania.

“The highest increase was in Queensland, which was up 49 per cent or $1.1 billion,” the report said.

However. the Reserve Bank published a report recently which questioned the strength of the recovery. Overseas arrivals would also take time to recover.

It said overseas arrivals numbers had only improved slightly and in December were about one-third of the pre-pandemic level.

And lobby group the Tourist and transport Forum released a survey suggesting nearly two-thirds of Australians are staying home this Easter as a combination of cost of living pressures, wet weather and travel warnings scupper holiday plans for the long weekend.

Around 64 per cent of Australians say they won’t be going away over the Easter holiday period, with 40 per cent unable to afford accommodation or travel expenses, according to a survey commissioned by Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF) Australia.

Of the 36 per cent who will be travelling, most will stay in their home state.

The Tourism and Transport Forum said late last year that tourists were spending more domestically than before Covid and mostly in their own state.

-with AAP