It's great to be back on the Gold Coast.
And great to be here at DestinationQ.
A couple of weeks ago, I was here for the opening of the new Langham Hotel, part of the much-anticipated Jewel development.
Reflected in the Jewel, is a city buzzing with opportunity.
As I said that night, this is a city that can host the Commonwealth Games one minute and be a part of the Olympic and Paralympic Games events the next.
From the TV Week Logie Awards, the Gold Coast Marathon, to just last weekend, the Gold Coast 500 and then of course there's Schoolies coming up, it's a place Australia has always come to party.
But also to where the world now comes to invest.
This morning, I was back at the Langham Hotel with the Tourism Minister and Assistant Minister with tourism investors as part of Destination Q to showcase just how great this city is.
And it's brought a new sophistication to the Gold Coast and that sophistication is spreading right across the state.
This is incredibly important in our post COVID recovery and as we look towards 2032.
I want to thank everyone of you in this room for your resilience over the past couple of years - some of the most difficult and challenging this industry has ever faced.
But we stood shoulder to shoulder with you.
We delivered more than $1.1 billion in support to our State's tourism, events and hospitality industries.
We helped fill more than 3,500 gaps in the tourism and hospitality industries from our Work in Paradise program.
And through our $200 million Attracting Aviation Investment Fund, we boosted traveler confidence, by increasing aviation routes.
Securing several new routes for Queensland including Jetstar, Scoot, Air Canada and United Airlines flights between:
- Tokyo and the Gold Coast
- Singapore and the Gold Coast
- Haneda and Brisbane
- Vancouver and Brisbane
- And San Francisco and Brisbane – which arrived to much fanfare over the weekend.
We've also welcomed back important returned routes, including:
- Los Angeles to Brisbane (Qantas),
- Singapore to Brisbane (Singapore Airlines),
- Auckland to Cairns
- and Auckland to Gold Coast (Air New Zealand).
All of this support and with your help, steered us through to where we are today.
And I think I speak for everyone in this room when I say, isn't it great to see people travelling again!
While we can't expect to return to our pre-COVID success overnight, we are well and truly on our way.
Our tourism sector has now grown to over $16.8 billion, almost 60 per cent of the industry's pre-COVID contribution to our economy.
In the year to June, Queensland celebrated record domestic Overnight Visitor Expenditure.
In total domestic tourists spent $19.6 billion – up 1.1 per cent compared to the pre-COVID period.
And our share of domestic tourism spend tops the nation at 28.5 per cent.
That's three and 10 per cent higher than NSW and Victoria, respectively.
And I am advised that six Queensland regions had record-breaking Overnight Visitor Expenditure, including:
- Tropical North Queensland
- Sunshine Coast
- Southern Great Barrier Reef
- Whitsundays
- Southern Queensland Country
- Fraser Coast
In the June quarter, we also saw a spike in international visitors to Queensland.
Through this period, our State outperformed the national average for travelers from the UK, US and Singapore.
And there's more good news to come.
Since it was launched in August, our Seize The Days campaign has has driven more than 200,000 visits to Queensland.com, sending more than 50,000 leads to industry.
We expect this campaign will bring in 6.7 million visitors, spending $4.4 billion.
And with new tourism offerings this year like:
- The Langham: Gold Coast
- Wonder Reef dive attraction: Gold Coast
- The Crocodile Hunter Lodge and cabins: Sunshine Coast
- The new Reef Magic pontoon: Far North Qld
- 'Strait Experience' – tours to the Torres Strait
- Rockhampton Museum of Art
- The Pavilions at Hayman Island: Whitsundays
- K'gari Salty Safaris
- And Hervey Bay Drive Centre overnight expedition on the Southern Great Barrier Reef
Visitors can expect a lot when they come.
And that's not even all of them.
I'm pleased to say that under the new leadership of our new CEO Patricia O'Callaghan, Tourism and Events Queensland will aim to deliver bigger and better campaigns to support Queensland's rich tourism experiences in the new year.
