Domestic Visitors Make A Splash In The Heart Of The Great Barrier Reef

The Whitsundays welcomed a record 791,000 domestic visitors to the region in the year up to December 2021, with overnight visitor expenditure up 82.8 per cent from 2019, another record according to the National Visitor Survey (NVS).

Tourism Whitsundays Chief Executive Officer, Rick Hamilton said The Whitsundays has delivered very encouraging results despite the challenges of international and interstate border closures.

“Over the last two years, Tourism Whitsundays has actively focused on COVID-19 recovery through marketing campaigns to support our industry and appeal to Australian travellers, enticing them to holiday in The Whitsundays.

“Domestic visitors enjoyed 3.4 million nights in our world-class destination. In what was an uncertain time for businesses, individuals and the tourism industry, holidaymakers supported local and saw what was in their backyard,” Mr Hamilton said.

Mr Hamilton said that Queenslanders played a significant role supporting our tourism industry over the last year with the region welcoming a record-breaking 637,000 intrastate visitors to The Whitsundays, up 59.3 per cent from 2019.

“A huge thanks goes to the Queensland market for continuing to support The Whitsundays. While these results are great for the region there continues to be operators that are still dependent on the international market and continue to be heavily impacted.

“Interstate visitation was down by 33 per cent and will require continued investment, in particular combatting against cheaper holiday packages being offered to outbound Australian’s.

“With international borders now open, Tourism Whitsundays will continue to prioritise our marketing campaigns to entice domestic and international holidaymakers to visit the Heart of the Great Barrier Reef,” Mr Hamilton said.

The Whitsundays is the most tourism reliant region in Queensland with 1 in 3 jobs directly related to tourism, and 40 per cent of all visitation to the Great Barrier Reef departs from within the region.

For more information on National Visitation Survey data, please click here.

Source: Tourism Whitsundays