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."

AUSTRALIA: Coast Tops Tourism Growth

THE FRASER Coast has topped the list for the strongest visitor growth in Queensland, according to the latest domestic tourism snapshot.

Tourism Research Australia's latest national visitor survey has shown the Fraser Coast had an increase of 21.4% to 630,000 domestic overnight visitors; nearly triple the overall Queensland total of 7.9%.

The stats show an extra 226,170 people from around the state have come to enjoy the Fraser Coast this year, giving the intrastate visitation a massive 35.9% boost.

Kingfisher Bay Resort Group general manager David Hay said the region had strong partnerships with surrounding areas, and was now benefiting from that.

"We have had another strong whale watching season and we look forward to topping the year off with some positive results coming into Christmas."

Owner and manager of Lychee Divine John Pool said the latest stats gave businesses confidence.

"It proves you get a positive outcome if you invest in tourism here, for us it's in agriculture," he said.

While Queenslanders can't get enough of the Fraser Coast, travellers from other states aren't as keen.

The latest snapshot shows a 13% drop in interstate visitors, and a 3% decrease in visitor's booked nights, and visitor expenditure for the Fraser Coast was $310.3 million, down 7%.

Fraser Coast Opportunities interim general manager Leigh Bennett said FCO was conscious of the drop in expenditure and room night numbers.

"The coming months will see an emphasis on developing itineraries and continuing to broaden our message to entice visitors to stay an extra day or two, spending even more..." he said.

2.8% more holiday visitors visited the Fraser Coast compared to a Queensland-wide decline of 4.3%.