Visitors Mean Business for Brisbane

Brisbane continues to break tourism records with the city receiving an all-time high influx of Australian business visitors.

The latest National Visitor Survey from Tourism Australia revealed domestic business visitors climbed a massive 27.5 per cent to a record 1.4 million in the year ending June 2017.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the rise of business visitors reflected Brisbane’s growing reputation as a destination of choice for business, investment and major events.

“Our city is building a reputation as a competitive base for doing business, for high levels of business investment and innovation and the largest public infrastructure spending program in Australia’s history,” Cr Quirk said.

“We are being increasingly seen in Australia and further afield as a New World City that has a business-friendly approach, a great quality of life and residents who are resourceful, positive and future-focussed.

“Major projects such as Queen’s Wharf Brisbane, Howard Smith Wharves, Brisbane Airport’s parallel runway and LOGOS and Hilton Foods Australia’s decision to build a $250 million purpose-built meat processing and distribution centre at Heathwood emphasise Brisbane’s strong business credentials.”

Overall, the National Visitor Survey found the number of Australians visiting Brisbane reached an all-time high of 6.4 million, contributing to a record spend of $3.85 billion over the year.

The results follow the International Visitor Survey released earlier this month, which found overseas visitor numbers to Brisbane rose to a record 1.215 million and expenditure climbed to an all-time high of $2.16 billion in the year to June.

The figures reflect a sharp increase in international passengers reported by Brisbane Airport in FY17, with the number of international passengers rising by seven percent to more than 5.6 million over FY16 -  the greatest growth for the airport in a decade.

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