Rural and regional NSW has overtaken regional Queensland, which includes the Gold Coast, in visitor expenditure for the first time, according to the latest National Visitor Survey (NVS).
Minister for Tourism and Major Events Adam Marshall said regional Queensland could no longer ride on the Gold Coast’s coattails.
“Queensland should follow our lead – rather than relying on the Gold Coast to inflate their numbers, they should focus on driving visitation west of the divide, into rural and regional areas,” Mr Marshall said.
“Also, less Aussie’s are choosing to visit Victoria, with the State recording a decline in both domestic visitors – down six per cent, and overnight stays – down almost 10 per cent.
“The NSW Government has invested record funding to grow the NSW visitor economy and rural and regional areas and the numbers speak for themselves.
“Rural and regional NSW has exceeded that of regional Queensland by $88 million and we’ve achieved double-digit growth into rural and regional NSW – growing at 11 per cent.
Mr Marshall said more than 32 million Australians chose to visit NSW (up almost 10 per cent), staying 101 million nights (up five per cent) and spending more than $19 billion (up almost 15 per cent).
“NSW leads Australia in terms of visitors, nights and expenditure. NSW’s domestic overnight expenditure growth was almost triple Queensland’s and nearly double Victoria’s, once again proving that we are number one on the ladder,” Mr Marshall said.
“This Government is not resting on our laurels and has been working with industry to develop the next Visitor Economy Industry Action Plan looking towards 2030.
“We want to ensure that, unlike Labor, we have a vision for the State’s visitor economy and we have a plan that works.
“We will continue to turbocharge NSW’s local economies, generate jobs and drive investment in local communities through this booming industry.”