Gold Coast tourism: Surprise surge in Chinese tourism numbers ahead of bumper summer

A major international tourism market is coming back to the Gold Coast, with new data revealing a revived flirtation with the city. FIND OUT MORE

The Chinese tourism market is coming back to the Gold Coast, with new data revealing a revived flirtation with the city.

New National and International Visitor Survey results from Tourism Research Australia show Asian visitation to the city is growing again, nearly five years after Covid slammed the door shut to international tourism.

While New Zealand remains the city’s biggest market, Chinese visitation jumped up 17 per cent in the July-September quarter, with 56,000 people flying in.

Experience Gold Coast CEO John Warn. Picture Glenn Hampson

Experience Gold Coast CEO John Warn, who recently returned from China, said the market was growing as the domestic market continued to go from strength to strength.

“We are excited to see China had considerable growth in the last quarter, with an increase of 17 per cent in visitation, which shows our team has had success connecting with industry, airlines and airport partners to bring more visitors to the Gold Coast,” he said.

“These strong results highlight the broad appeal of the Gold Coast for day trippers, domestic overnight and international visitors.

“Domestic overnight business travel significantly contributed to these numbers with a record-breaking contribution of 595,000 visitors — a 10 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.

“This shows the city is fast becoming a place for business and not just leisure travel, with great venues to meet, connect, and network.”

Mayor Tom Tate (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images for Football Australia)

The Gold Coast’s top international markets are China, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

The data revealed:

* 12.4m people visited the Gold Coast in the 12 months to September 2024, a slight increase on 12.3m the previous year, pouring $7.7bn into the economy.

* The New Zealand visitation figures were a record 221,000, a 3 per cent increase from the previous quarter.

* Domestic overnight spending hit $5.4bn, up 46 per cent on 2019, which was the last pre-Covid year.

It comes as the summer holiday season kicks off next week, beginning the busiest period of the year for the sector.

Experience Gold Coast head of visitor economy Rachel Hancock said bookings were strong.

“It’s great to see accommodation bookings up more than 6 per cent across the city during December and January, with the peak period between Christmas and New Years particularly strong,” she said.

“New products and experiences and events like Magic Millions carnival continue to attract more people to the Gold Coast leading to a positive knock-on economic effect.”

Mayor Tom Tate, who has spent the week talking up a dramatic expansion of the city’s nature tourism offerings, said the sector was healthy.

“The Gold Coast has so much to offer both leisure and businesses travellers and the latest visitor survey results reflect this,” he said.

“I applaud Experience Gold Coast and the industry for continuing to invest in new events, attractions and experiences that ensure we are always front of mind.”