Queensland’s tourism industry is feeling the impact of the current economic climate, and the latest
domestic tourism visitation numbers to our state reflect this. For the year ending 30 June 2009
Queensland received 16 million overnight domestic visitors, down six per cent on the previous year. On
a more positive note, Queensland maintained its second largest market share of domestic visitors,
receiving 24 per cent compared to 34 per cent for New South Wales.
During these tough economic times, this government understands that we must do everything
possible to ensure we support Queensland’s multibillion dollar tourism industry and continue to attract
visitor expenditure in Queensland of almost $19 billion each year. Tourism directly employs 119,000
Queenslanders and a further 97,000 indirectly.
The Bligh government is committed to protecting these jobs and, as such, Tourism Queensland
has devised a series of hard-hitting tactical campaigns aimed at getting holiday-makers to book a
Queensland holiday now. The results of one of these campaigns has been, in a word, unreal. The fiveweek
Unreal Deals campaign, which wrapped up on 23 August, was the best result of any Queensland
domestic retail campaign, generating more than $6.4 million in sales for our tourism industry.
The campaign, which ran in partnership with Sunlover Holidays, recorded 5,400 bookings and
26,800 room nights for Queensland tourism operators across the state. These included: on the Gold
Coast, 11,417 room nights resulting in $2.2 million in sales; in tropical North Queensland, 7,827 room
nights resulting in $1.7 million in sales; the Whitsundays, 2,442 room nights resulting in more than
$790,000 in sales; and on the Sunshine Coast, 2,109 room nights resulting in more than $395,000 in
sales. There were 2,951 room nights and more than $677,500 in sales in other parts of the state. There
was a further $600,000 in ground transport bookings such as car hire.
The success of the Unreal Deals campaign is proof of Tourism Queensland’s continuing ability to
produce creative, hard-hitting campaigns that push all the right buttons in convincing Australians not
only that they need a holiday but that they need one now and they need it in Queensland.
Australian holiday-makers spend more time in Queensland than in any other state. Once these
visitors start their holiday they will also spend on food, drink, tours, shopping et cetera, further boosting
regional economies. Many Queenslanders rely on the tourism industry for their livelihood. The flow-on
effect of tourism into other industries is vital for our regional economies.
I am also very pleased to announce the appointment of four new Queensland
tourism ambassadors in Europe and Korea. All were final candidates in Tourism Queensland’s Best Job
in the World campaign and are hugely popular in their own countries. They are Magali Heuberger from
the Netherlands, Mirjam Novak from Germany, Ben Henry from France and Juweon Kim from Korea.
The ambassadors will be tasked with promoting other parts of Queensland, not just the islands of the
Great Barrier Reef. The Bligh government is capitalising on the high profile these new ambassadors
achieved during their quest for the Best Job in the World.
