Visitors mean business for Brisbane

The latest National Visitor Survey from Tourism Australia revealed domestic business visitors to Brisbane climbed a massive 27.5% to a record 1.4m 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 A$250m 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 A$3.85bn 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 1.215m and expenditure climbed to an all-time high of A$2.16bn in the year to June.