Top Australian Tourism Hotspots
24 April 2011 by News Desk
Tourism Research Australia has highlighted the country’s top twenty tourist destinations.
Three of the top five regions attracting the highest-spending tourists were in Queensland where the Gold Coast was No 1 with $4.5bn in income, Tropical North Queensland second with $2.7bn, Sunshine Coast third ($2.4bn), then New South Wales’ Mid North Coast ($2bn) and Northern Rivers, ($1.1bn).
A report, The Economic Importance of Tourism in Australia’s Regions, shows visitor expenditure as a percentage of output for each of the 20 destinations. “Tourism is the lifeblood of many regional areas. It creates jobs where people live. Tourism is a source of employment for many people including hospitality professionals, uni students, travellers, indigenous workers and older Australia’s looking for part-time employment,” said the Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson.
“Regions such as the Gold Coast, Tropical North Queensland, Sunshine Coast, NSW Mid North Coast and NSW Northern Rivers not only have a very high reliance on the tourism sector, tourism contributes between $1 billion and $4.5 billion to their local economy. Visitors travel to regional areas for many reasons – not just holidays but to visit their friends and relatives, for business, for learning and cultural experiences and for personal reasons. Almost 46 cents in every dollar spent by visitors is spent in regional Australia.”
Some regions are more reliant on tourism than others. According to the report, tourism was most important economically to Central Northern Territory where visitor spending accounted for 24.8 per cent of the region’s overall output.
Recognising the fact that regional areas rely heavily on attracting visitors, Mr Ferguson said the government would continue to support them. “The Australian Government recognises the importance of tourism to regional Australia, that is why, through the National Long Term Tourism Strategy and the marketing efforts of Tourism Australia we are supporting regional areas,” he said.
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