One-tenth of tourism regions make up 21% of expenditure

Seven regions across Australia – all with coastal strips and national parks – have been found to account for 21% of total Australian tourism expenditure, according to Tourism Research Australia.

Three of the seven are in Queensland with the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Tropical North Queensland.

NSW had the Mid-North Coast, the Northern Rivers and South Coast. There was also the South West of Western Australia.

The economic importance of tourism in these regions ranged from 4.8% of income for their local economies from tourism the WA South West to 9.7% in Tropical North Queensland.

Tourism Research Australia is a branch of the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism, which has 77 defined tourism regions across Australia derived from data collected in the National Visitor Survey and the International Visitor Survey.

The dominant attractions across the seven major regions revolve around the beach and/or the nature experiences offered.

The number of accommodation establishments within the regions ranges from 147 in Western Australia’s South West to 260 in the Mid-North Coast. The typical tourism region has 93 accommodation establishments.

The Northern Rivers is among the most accessible destinations, with three domestic airports in the region servicing 83 flights to and from Sydney and 20 flights to and from Melbourne per week. and Gold Coast Airport is less than five minutes from the region.

The result was a diverse range of domestic visitor origins when compared with the other regions. Its international market has heavily focused on European tourists, with 30% from the UK, 11% from Germany and 29% from other European nations, with a significant backpacker market.

The Northern Rivers is a region where visitors do not spend long periods of time, with 91% of domestic visitors spending a week or less and 30% just one night.

However, it is a region where domestic visitors travel repeatedly, with 78% having previously visited Northern Rivers.

The NSW South Coast has a very large and important domestic visitor market, where domestic visitors outnumber international visitors 69 to one.

The South Coast does have a high proportion of repeat domestic visitors (77%), most of whom come from Sydney.

The breakdown of accommodation type varies markedly across the regions.

With the exception of the Gold Coast, these regions are highly seasonal, with most the domestic peak season occurring in the March quarter, corresponding with the summer holiday period.

A difference occurs in Tropical North Queensland, where the peak occurs in their dry season, which corresponds with the September quarter.

International peak seasons are very similar to domestic, with the Sunshine Coast changing from a March to September quarter peak, and Australia’s South West summer peak shifting to the December quarter.

The Gold Coast ranks as the fourth largest tourism region in Australia by tourism expenditure, behind Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Domestic visitors, nights and expenditure outnumber the international figures. In 2010, 11% of tourism expenditure in regional Australia (including the Gold Coast) was from international visitors.

Within the seven regions the contribution of international visitors was highest in Tropical North Queensland, with 32% of expenditure from international visitors, and the Gold Coast (21%)

Similar to the national regional benchmark were the Northern Rivers and the Sunshine Coast at 11%.

The lowest international spend was in the South Coast (9%), Western Australia’s South West (8%) and the Mid-North Coast (3%).

Tourism Research Australia notes the trends in both domestic and international visitors have been similar across the regions, with a general decline in domestic visitors over the past decade, while outbound travel by Australians increased significantly.

Between 1999 and 2010 the average annual growth in domestic visitors ranged from 0.2% per year increase in Tropical North Queensland to 1.8% per year in the South Coast.

This is compared with a decline of 0.7% per year nationally and 1% per year in regional Australia excluding capital cities.

Visitor nights decreased across the board from between 0.3% per year in Tropical North Queensland to 1.7% per year in the South Coast.

In contrast, outbound travel increased, on average, by 8.5% per year between 2004 and 2010, with outbound travel to Indonesia increasing at a rate of 13.9% per year and Fiji at 10.2% per year.

Between 1999 and 2010 average annual growth in international visitors was positive for all regions except Tropical North Queensland, Gold Coast and Mid-North Coast (declines of 1%, 0.6% and 0.3% per year respectively).

This compared with increases both nationally (2.5% per year) and regionally (0.7% per year).

International visitor nights increased across the board, ranging from 0.5% per year in Tropical North Queensland to 7.1% per year in Australia’s South West. This compares with 5.7% nationally.

The only region not on the east coast of Australia, Western Australia’s South West, provides some valuable insights through its different geographical location.

With regional tourism expenditure of $881 million, 1.6 million visitors and 7.1 million visitor nights, Western Australia’s South West is one of the smaller regions ranking sixth out of the seven regions.

It is also the least economically dependent on tourism out of the seven regions, which can be attributed partly to the presence of the mining industry in the region.

Contributing to its size is the fact that it has the fewest accommodation establishments and tourism businesses.