Queensland tourism on the way back as fund sparks $1.5 billion in spending
Queensland was “on track” to recover in the China tourism market with a key government and industry fund generating $1.49 billion in anticipated tourist spending.
China is expected to once again be Queensland's number one source for tourists (pic: Griffith University)
The tourism sector was boosted recently with the re-opening of the China market and the return of China Southern flights from November with four flights a week, but there have been successes elsewhere with 25 flights from major capitals around the world lured to the state.
The China market was by far Queensland’s biggest international market before Covid and Brisbane Airport executive general manager of aviation Ryan Both said Queensland could not talk enough about the Olympics in China as it seeks to regain market in the nation.
“That (the Olympics) is really important in China. They see the hosting of the Summer Olympics and Paralympics as a really important marker of the success and status of a destination globally. It’s a symbolic thing,” Both said.
“It’s really something that cuts through.
“I think we have the opportunity to do better than where we were in 2019. Queensland was only really discovering its role in the Chinese market in 2019.”
He said BAC believed the state could do better than having two or three source cities in China.
“We would like to have six, seven, eight access points in China and much broader mix of Chinese travellers,” he said.
Deputy director general of Tourism Chad Anderson said 25 flights had been secured through the $200 million aviation attraction fund while there had also been growth outside that.
“That puts us at 77 per cent of international capacity,” he said.
“We are doing well but we still have a long way to go to get back to where we were pre-Covid.
“It is seeing us return 1.91 million inbound seats and $1.49 billion in overnight visitor expenditure.”
Deputy Tourism Minister Michael Healy said there was only about $30 million left in the aviation attraction fund, which is jointly paid for by the government and the four international airports in the state.
“The premier has indicated that once the attracting aviation fund has been exhausted there will be additional funds where required,” Healy said.
Tourism and Events Queensland chief executive Trish O’Callaghan said there was still a long way to go before Queensland reached its targeted levels.
A key goal is a 2032 target of $44 billion in overnight visitor expenditure of which about $3 billion has been forecast for China. That’s close to double the pre-Covid level.
