Domestic Tourists Love The Coast

THE latest tourism snapshot has painted a positive picture for the Fraser Coast, with the destination more than doubling Queensland's overall growth in domestic visitors.

The National Visitor Statistics for the year ending March 2016 show a 21% increase in domestic travellers to the Fraser Coast to 619,000, compared with Queensland's overall growth of 9%.

Visitors from Brisbane and regional Queensland led the charge with interstate visitation growing 20% to 468,000.

Brisbane's fondness of the region was evident with it being the largest single source market accounting for 158,000 travellers, although this was 7% down on the corresponding period last year.

Interstate visitation grew 24% to 151,000 with the bulk of the travellers coming from Sydney and Melbourne.

Overall, visitor nights totalled 2.5 million, which was a decrease of 6%.

Fraser Coast Opportunities interim general manager Leigh Bennett said the report reinforced the strong interest in visiting the Fraser Coast with tremendous growth in overall numbers.

"Already the caravans are arriving from the south which means we are into the winter months which are a fantastic time for tourism on the Fraser Coast," he said.

"The humpbacks will soon be here so the Fraser Coast region can embrace its place as a world-leading whale watch destination."