Visit Gold Coast: New tourism data reveals industry’s $6bn rebound

Tourism is booming again, with new data revealing how visitors are pouring $6.1bn into the Gold Coast’s economy.

THE Gold Coast’s biggest sector is booming again with new figures revealing domestic visitors led $6.1bn surge last year to put the pain of the pandemic behind us.

Tourism was worth $6bn to the Gold Coast annually in 2019 and lost more than half its value during the first year of the Covid pandemic.

But National Visitor Survey figures released by Tourism Research Australia shows the strength of spending by travellers in the first year after Covid border restrictions ended.

Destination Gold Coast’s head of stakeholders and strategy Rachel Hancock said in 12 months to December, the Gold Coast welcomed 11.4 million domestic overnight and daytrip visitors pumping a record $6.1 billion into the economy.

Rachel Hancock. Picture Glenn Hampson

Queenslanders who underpinned tourism during the pandemic were returning to more normal numbers but interstate visitors had continued to lift setting a new record of 2.3 million visitors in 2022, she said.

According to data, a record 1.3m visitors came from NSW in 2022, up 2.1 per cent on 2019.

Victorian tourist numbers were up 10.8 per cent over the same period, with more than 707,000 arriving on the Gold Coast in 2022.

Ms Hancock said visitors from the southern state slowed in early 2023: “The early rise in interstate visitors in 2022, particularly from Melbourne, has abated slightly, however their overall numbers helped set a record for overnight visitor expenditure.”

The Gold Coast attracted 7.3 million day-trippers who also set a record for expenditure.

Gold Coast skyline

“With continued growth, a return to 2019 visitor numbers in 2023 remains a strong possibility,” she said.

The Gold Coast tourism sector employs 44,000 people and directly feeds into 26,000 small businesses.

Data released in February showed tourism was expected to inject more than $45bn into the Gold Coast’s economy in the decade leading up to the 2032 Olympic Games.

Destination Gold Coast Interim CEO Karen Bolinger

Destination Gold Coast is developing its 2032 strategy which will be presented to the Gold Coast City Council in coming months.

Destination Gold Coast interim CEO Karen Bolinger told the Bulletin at the time that the tourism plans for the Olympics period needed to be locked in by 2023.

“There is when the closing ceremony of the Los Angeles Olympics happens and that’s when the world gets a preview of what ours will look like,” she said.

“We need to get the body of work done in the next few years to see whether we need more hotel infrastructure, airline access or new products.

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Originally published as Visit Gold Coast: New tourism data reveals industry’s $6bn rebound