{"id":242647,"date":"2019-08-27T18:28:12","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T08:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=242647"},"modified":"2020-07-18T12:36:01","modified_gmt":"2020-07-18T02:36:01","slug":"data-estimates-687000-visitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/08\/27\/data-estimates-687000-visitors\/","title":{"rendered":"Data Estimates 687,000 Visitors"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Peter Stewart from Lightning Tree Wines runs one of the South Burnett’s new tourism businesses … Peter operates the former Tipperary Estate cellar door, cafe and vineyard at Moffatdale in partnership with Nuova Scuola and Hillsdale Estate wines<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

August 27, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

New data from Tourism Research Australia (TRA) estimates the South Burnett received 687,000 visitors in 2018, or about 13,211 per week.<\/p>\n

Those visitors stayed an average of three nights and contributed $114 million to the region’s economy, with an average spend of $167 per trip.<\/p>\n

However, according to the TRA, neighbouring regions did even better during the past year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Western Downs, for example, hosted 780,000 visitors in 2018.\u00a0They stayed an average of four nights and contributed $157 million to Western Downs’ economy, with an average spend of $201 per trip.<\/p>\n

This was dwarfed by Toowoomba, which played host to 2.94 million visitors who stayed an average four nights in the Garden City, contributing $667 million to Toowoomba’s economy and spending an average $201 per trip.<\/p>\n

And Gympie hosted 1.24 million visitors who stayed an average three\u00a0 nights, adding $240 million to that region’s economy with an average spend of $193 per visit.<\/p>\n

The data is contained in TRA’s Local Government Area Profiles, which provide estimates of tourist visits and average spending in Australia’s regions to December 2018.<\/strong><\/p>\n

TRA assembles its data from surveying outbound international tourists and domestic tourists.<\/p>\n

It then spreads its findings across Australian Bureau of Statistics data for Local Government Areas to estimate what tourism is contributing to regional economies.<\/p>\n

TRA admits on its website this method has limitations.<\/p>\n

Estimates can be based on sample sizes as small as 40 people.<\/p>\n

As well, data collection relies on the memories of tourists about what they spent during a trip, and where.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the TRA report has heartened South Burnett Mayor Keith Campbell.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Mayor said on Tuesday he believed the figures showed a resurgence in local tourism was occurring because TRA’s estimates rose Queensland-wide in 2018.<\/p>\n

“After changing tack in 2017, the figures released from TRA prove that growth is occurring across the tourism industry, with higher growth in visitors and spending,” he said.<\/p>\n

The Mayor said he would like to encourage tourists to visit Council’s tourism website<\/b><\/a> or call in to one of the region\u2019s five Visitor Information Centres to get more information when planning a trip.<\/p>\n