New figures show who loves coming to the Fraser Coast

The fastest growing market to the Fraser Coast was Scandinavia- that market increased almost 15% to 10,000.

International visitor numbers to the Fraser Coast was up on the previous quarter.

A NEW report on the region's tourism numbers has revealed a slight decline in international visitors, but Fraser Coast Opportunities interim general manager Leigh Bennett said the numbers are encouraging.

The International Visitor Survey was conducted by Tourism Research Australia and it showed stable visitation numbers for the year ending in March this year.

The fastest growing market to the Fraser Coast was Scandinavia.

That market increased almost 15% to 10,000 visitors while the United Kingdom was up by 8.7% to 36,000 visitors and Germany up 3.8% to 27,000 visitors with the majority of growth occurring in the holiday sector.

New Zealanders arrived in comparable numbers, up 0.1% overall.

In total the Fraser Coast welcomed more than 130,000 international visitors, which was a 1.9% decrease from the same period last year, but a slight rise from the previous quarter.

Expenditure was down 21.6% to $36.4 million compared with the same period last year but was slightly ahead of last quarter's figure of $36 million.

FCO interim general manager Leigh Bennett said the figures revealed encouraging signs in some areas as well as scope for improvement.

"In the international space our Australia's Nature Coast initiative is an award winning partner campaign that focuses on trade outcomes and developing international readiness within our industry,'' he said.