Toowoomba to host Meatstock, Red Hot Summer festival in massive tourism weekend

Toowoomba will be packed out this weekend thanks to major food and music festivals arriving in the Garden City, injecting millions into the region’s economy.

Toowoomba could be hosting an extra 20,000 people this weekend as it caters for at least two massive events.

Touring barbecue and music festival Meatstock and the long-running Red Hot Summer Tour will converge on the Garden City across Friday and Saturday, drawing thousands to the region and filling up hotel rooms and campgrounds.

Meatstock, which runs over two days, will hope to match the 16,000 people it drew to its 2022 event that injected $3.3m into the local economy.

Meanwhile, the Paul Kelly-headlined Red Hot Summer Tour will provide some much-needed activation of Queens Park in the centre of town on Saturday afternoon.

Diego Lefcadito from Brazilian Flame BBQ at Meatstock, which kicked off on Friday in Toowoomba.

It is a huge boost for Toowoomba, which normally experiences a quieter period during the Autumn months that has prompted operators to consider starting new annual events.

Oaks Toowoomba owner Kenneth Wagner said his CBD hotel was full up this weekend, noting other accommodation providers were enjoying the same business.

“We’re full all weekend, it’s great to see two tours like Meatstock and Red Hot Summer crank up the region from a tourism perspective,” he said.

“When you support those operators, the region can fire and we need more of it.

“The rates are very strong, but we see good traffic all year around being a premium accommodation offering.

“What it really highlights is we need industry to deliver events like this – as an industry we’ve got to get in and sort the problem.

“If you’re not full this weekend, you should give the game away.”

Paul Kelly will headline the Red Hot Summer Tour. (AAP Image/Morgan Sette)

Mr Wagner said he loved seeing thousands pack out Queens Park for Red Hot Summer, arguing it should happen more often.

“The centre of town is completely under-utilised, because regulation and red tape around public parks is enormous,” he said.

“If you don’t like the noise, just get out of East Toowoomba.”

Southern Queensland Country CEO Peter Homan. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Toowoomba is coming off a massive year for tourism in 2022, with tourists spending $1.13bn across southern Queensland in 2022 — a 42 per cent jump from 2019 (the latest year not affected by Covid-19).

Southern Queensland Country Tourism CEO Peter Homan said events like Meatstock and Red Hot Summer acted as introductions for potential long-term tourists, but it was up to the region to get them to return.

“Events are fabulous, but they’re a sugar hit — after Meatstock’s here, what will bring them the next weekend?” he said.

“They’re great introductory events, but what’s the long-term sitting in front of them?

“The other thing high on people’s agendas is nature-based tourism — they want to go to gardens and national parks, and we’ve got that in droves.

“We’ve got the open air, the beautiful produce, the boutique accommodation and an airport that could take one million people a year potentially.

“It means because we’ve got the underlying foundations (to build our tourism base).”