July 25, 2023
Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast are the South Burnett’s three main sources of tourists, according to a recent study carried out at the region’s Visitor Information Centres (VICs).
Between January and May this year, Brisbane tourists accounted for almost a third (31.3 per cent) of more than 9600 enquiries received by the centres, followed by the Sunshine Coast (10.6 per cent) and the Gold Coast (7.5 per cent).
Tourists from NSW were fourth on the list (5.2 per cent), then Toowoomba and the Golden West (3.6 per cent) and Southern Downs (1.2 per cent).
A further 26.4 per cent of VIC enquiries came from South Burnett residents seeking more knowledge about local attractions, with the rest of Queensland and Australia making up the balance (14.2 per cent).
These figures were presented to the South Burnett Regional Council’s Liveability standing committee meeting earlier this month.
Councillors had previously been advised that volunteer shortages at Murgon’s Visitor Information Centre meant it could no longer open seven days a week.
This had lost the centre its Tourism Queensland accreditation.
Council will now seek expressions of interest from not-for-profit community groups which would like to share the VIC’s Lamb Street building.
This comes after a community consultation carried out in the town last month which showed that while most Murgon residents want the VIC to continue to operate at the site, almost three-quarters opposed having a commercial entity (eg. a coffee shop) located there.
The Murgon VIC will continue to operate on weekends and most public holidays, which would leave weekdays free for another tenant.
- Related article: Survey To Assess VIC’s Future
