Holiday visitors increase, tourism industry picks up after cyclone

The Mackay Region has recorded an impressive increase in the number of domestic holiday visitors by 23 per cent, year ending December 2016.

The annual growth has exceeded places like Brisbane, Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast.

A total of 862,000 people visited Mackay last year, with 177,000 choosing the region purely as a holiday destination.

The recent data also shows that travel expenditure was up 7.4 per cent, year ending December 2016.

Deputy Mayor of Mackay Regional Council and Mackay Tourism Board Director, Cr Amanda Camm, says the data shows a changing trend in visitor demographics which has traditionally been overshadowed by business travellers and Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR).

"Visitors and holidaymakers are now becoming more aware of the region’s natural assets and brand, we are seeing the benefits of The Mackay Region transitioning from a business and event destination to now include natural and unique leisure tourism experiences,” Cr Camm said.

The Mackay Region also recently recorded a spike in the number of international visitors to The Mackay Region. Out of the 47,000 international visitors the region received, 35,000 were purely holiday-makers which meant a 27.3 per cent increase for this type of visitation for the year.

Key drivers of this growth were the 9,000 visitors from Germany, who contributed to the combined European and UK visitor count of 26,000 – an increase of almost 17 per cent.