Data highlights our extraordinary tourism turnaround since start of Covid-19

While fresh data has shed new light on the state of the NT’s tourism industry pre-Covid, today the Territory’s tourism landscape looks dramatically different.

A tourist at Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), about 40km west of Uluru. Picture: Tourism NT

A LOT can change in a year, as new data on tourism in the Northern Territory shows.

According to figures from the Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF), the Top End’s returns on its tourism marketing spend per capita were the poorest of any state or territory over the three years pre-Covid-19.

That was despite the NT spending about $113 a person on tourism marketing and just over six per cent of Territory workers being employed in the tourism industry.

But that was then.

Today, the NT’s tourism industry looks dramatically different.

Having performed better than any other state or territory throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, and been the only jurisdiction to so far avoid any community spread, the Territory has since emerged as a domestic tourism mecca.

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Starting with the reopening of state and territory borders late last year, interstate visitors hungry for travel have been flocking to the Territory for months now, booking out hotels, filling restaurants and bars and generally creating a buzz in our major urban centres.

While as recently as early 2020 Territory hotels and other hospitality venues were struggling from a lack of patrons, these days their main problem is finding enough staff to keep up with demand.

Circumstances have helped us but there’s no doubt the NT tourism industry has capitalised on the fortunate position we find ourselves in to draw even more tourists our way.

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