The NSW South Coast was a more popular holiday destination for Australian travellers than Queensland’s Gold Coast during the past year, the latest national tourism snapshot has revealed.
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More than 3.8 million domestic tourists chose to visit the South Coast in the 12 months to March this year – up 267,000 visitors or 7.5 per cent, on the same period to March 2017 – according to the federal government’s National Visitor Survey (NVS).
The South Coast’s 2018 figure was more than 440,000 visitors higher than the Gold Coast’s. It also ranked more highly than the Hunter, the Sunshine Coast and Tropical North Queensland.
The NVS showed that while the South Coast’s visitation grew, the Gold Coast’s appeal to Australian travellers was waning – its year-to-March visitor numbers were down about two per cent on the previous year.
The tourism data also revealed people stayed a total of 12 million nights on the South Coast (up 10.6 per cent) and spent more than $1.7 billion (up almost seven per cent).
The South Coast includes the Wollongong, Shellharbour, Kiama, Shoalhaven, Wingecarribee, Wollondilly, Eurobodalla and Bega Valley local government areas, as well as Jervis Bay.
Although holidaymakers were visiting these areas in increasing numbers, the figures showed they didn’t splash as much cash in our neck of the woods. South Coast visitors, on average, parted with $465 each, with those on the Gold Coast each spending $859.
Destination Wollongong general manager Mark Sleigh said while it was “fantastic” South Coast visitor numbers continued to climb, there was still “a long way to go” when it came to key tourism infrastructure.
Mr Sleigh said the infrastructure would “encourage more visitors to come to town, spend more money in the local economy and create more jobs”.
“That’s where the Gold Coast do it really well. I think we’re getting there and we’re certainly making some improvements,” he said.
More generally, the snapshot showed rural and regional NSW had overtaken regional Queensland – which includes the Gold Coast – in visitor expenditure for the first time.
The NVS showed domestic tourists spent $88 million more in regional NSW than they did in regional Queensland.
However, overall spending on the South Coast was well below that of the Gold Coast, in the context of individual areas.
Tourism and Major Events Minister Adam Marshall urged Queensland to follow NSW’s lead and focus on driving visitation into rural and regional areas.
Mr Sleigh echoed the call, adding government upgrades to South Coast roads meant people were “getting down the coast that much quicker” and a Destination NSW campaign had also “done an exceptional job” marketing the region.
SOUTH COAST TOURISM BY THE NUMBERS
OVERNIGHT VISITORS
- March 2018: 3,843,000
- March 2017: 3,576,000
VISITOR NIGHTS
- March 2018: 12,154,000
- March 2017: 10,989,000
REGIONAL EXPENDITURE
- March 2018: $1.8 billion
- March 2017: $1.7 billion
AVERAGE SPEND PER VISITOR
- March 2018: $465
- March 2017: $467
AVERAGE SPEND PER VISITOR, PER NIGHT
- March 2018: $147
- March 2017: $152
GOLD COAST vs SOUTH COAST*
OVERNIGHT VISITORS
- South Coast: 3,843,000
- Gold Coast: 3,401,000
VISITOR NIGHTS
- South Coast: 12,154,000
- Gold Coast: 12,831,000
REGIONAL EXPENDITURE
- South Coast: $1.8 billion
- Gold Coast: $2.9 billion
AVERAGE SPEND PER VISITOR
- South Coast: $465
- Gold Coast: $859
AVERAGE SPEND PER VISITOR, PER NIGHT
- South Coast: $147
- March 2017: $228
*figures for the 12 months to March 2018.
