Tourism: New Zealand visitors to the Gold Coast on the rise as domestic tourist market surges

The Kiwi love affair with the Gold Coast has been reignited, with visitor numbers from across the ditch accelerating in the past year, close to pre-Covid levels.

The Kiwi love affair with the Gold Coast has been reignited, with visitor numbers from across the ditch accelerating in the past year, close to pre-Covid levels.

New National Visitor Survey and International Visitor Survey figures released by Tourism Research Australia on Wednesday reveals the Gold Coast’s pandemic bounce is gaining momentum, with the city breaking nine previous benchmarks in the 12 months to September.

Rachel Hancock. Picture, Portia Large.

According to the data:

* New Zealand and UK visitors are our top visitor nations, with 144,000 Kiwi travellers flying in, just 6 per cent below pre-Covid levels (2019) while 36,000 people came from the UK.

* Korean tourism has also dramatically surged, 14 per cent above pre-pandemic levels, with 25,000 travellers this year.

* More than 436,000 international visitors came to the Gold Coast in the one-year period.

* New annual records broken include total domestic overnight visitors, total domestic overnight intrastate visitors and total domestic overnight visitors from Brisbane, NSW and Sydney.

* The total domestic overnight spending increased 38.4 per cent on 2022 numbers to $5.8bn while daytrip spending jumped $59.9 per cent to $1.3bn.

Experience Gold Coast tourism executive director Rachel Hancock said the data showed the strength of the city as an “engine room” for the sector.

Rachael Heelan with daughter Zara Titley 9 and friend Adelle Dawson 9 (right), enjoying themselves at the Intercontinental Sanctuary Cove as domestic tourism continues to boom Picture Glenn Hampson

“In the twelve months to September, the Gold Coast welcomed 12.4 million domestic overnight and daytrip visitors who contributed $7.1bn to our economy,” Ms Hancock said.

“A record 4.4 million domestic overnight visitors including all time high visitation from Brisbane and Sydney tells us that these key markets are responding well to our campaign activity in what is an exceptionally competitive travel landscape.

“At the same time, the Gold Coast continued to prove popular with 8 million day-trippers, closing in on 2019 levels.”

It comes as the Gold Coast looks down the barrel of the annual summer tourism surge, with hotels reporting high occupancy levels.

Beyond Christmas and New Year, the city will host a range of events in coming weeks including the Magic Millions Carnival, National Futsal Championships, the prestigious AACTA Awards and the Sneakers Unboxed event at the Home of the Arts (HOTA) gallery.

Ms Hancock said only small numbers of rooms were still available.

“We expect the Gold Coast will benefit from a $1.3bn economic injection this summer with 42 per cent the result of interstate visitors compared to a quarter from international according to modelling,” she said.

“Accommodation providers are reporting that occupancy is heading through 80 per cent, but we’re still encouraging last-minute holiday-makers to jump onto booking sites now.

“As we lean into a new year post our peak holiday season, we are buoyed with confidence that 2024 will continue to see Gold Coast’s visitor economy strengthen on all fronts.”