Gold Coast Tourism reports growing arrivals but declining spending for year to Sep-2017

Gold Coast Tourism CEO Martin Winter reported (12-Dec-2017) the Tourism Research Australia International Visitor Survey for the year to Sep-2017 shows total visitors to the region rose 4.2% year-on-year to just under 1.1 million, while total spending declined 4.1% to AUD1.2 billion (USD907 million). Mr Winter said the record number of holiday makers within the arrivals figures "shows that the Gold Coast still takes pride of place on people's holiday itineraries and that the appeal and marketing of the destination is strong". The region represents almost half of all holiday visitors to Queensland, with 843,000 holiday visitors over the past 12 months. Mr Winter said Chinese visitor arrivals reached a record 305,000 (+3.4%) and this growth continued to play an important part in the city's economy. Japan is "another source market that we have seen a big jump from", with 69,000 visitors (+23.4%) and "that trend has been over a couple of years", added Mr Winter. [more - original PR]