Understanding the Tourism Industry
Tourism is defined as the “activities of persons travelling to and staying outside their usual environment for leisure, business or another purpose”. When Capricorn Tourism talks about tourists, we are referring to people visiting from outside the region. That is, domestic (intrastate and interstate) and international visitors. Their visit could include a stay in a hotel, discovering restaurants, visiting parks and attractions, going shopping, taking tours, attending an event or hiring a car.
Leisure tourists typically travel to Capricorn for a holiday, to attend an event or to ‘visit friends and relatives’ (known as VFR travel). Business tourists typically travel to the region for business related activities, conferences or events. Capricorn Tourism aims to attract each of these groups through targeted marketing campaigns, which also assists in the overall development of the region as a tourism destination.
Tourism is a major industry in Queensland, with domestic and international tourism contributing approximately $8.1 billion annually to the State’s economy. Tourism in Queensland generates $3.7 billion annually as an export earner, secondly only to coal exports. The tourism industry directly employs 103,500 Queenslanders or 5.6 percent of all persons employed.
Tourism can strengthen local economies by making them less reliant on traditional mainstream industries which are subject to commodity price fluctuations such as agriculture or mining.
What is a domestic tourist?
Domestic tourists are residents of a country who are travelling within it. The majority of tourists visiting the Capricorn region live in Australia and most travel from regional and south east Queensland, NSW and Victoria. These tourists, and other Australians who travel within the country, would be referred to as domestic tourists.
Domestic tourism accounted for approximately 87 per cent of visitors to the region, with approximately 584,000 domestic overnight visitors travelling to Capricorn in the year ending June 2009.
What is an international tourist?
International (or inbound) tourists are travellers who travel within a foreign country. Capricorn draws international visitors, from our major tourist markets of: United Kingdom, Germany, rest of Europe, New Zealand and the United States.
International tourists represented approximately 12 per cent of visitors to Capricorn, with approximately 81,000 visiting the region in the year ending June 2009.
More information on where the region’s visitors originate from, and what activities they participate in, is available from the Capricorn destination section found at tq.com.au/research.
More information on the differences between domestic and inbound tourism markets is available in the Domestic vs International Markets section of the toolkit.
