Brisbane achieves record international tourism numbers

From of us in Brisbane, thanks you for coming to see us – we loved having all 1,149,000 of you here.

That’s right, in the 12 months to December 2016 the city of Brisbane welcomed a whopping 1.159 million international visitors, according to the latest International Visitor Survey statistics.

Breaking all prior records, the river city has seen a 25 per cent increase in international tourists visiting since 2012.

 “These record tourism numbers are due to Brisbane’s ever-growing international profile, combined with a world-class major events calendar and an increase in quality hotel supply,” Brisbane Lord mayor Graham Quirk said. 

The latest tourism results showed strong gains with Chinese visitors up 18.6 per cent, USA visitors climbing 16.5 per cent, Japan rising 14.2 per cent, Korea up 34 per cent and Canada up 16.8 per cent.

International Visitor Survey year-ended Dec. 2016 key results for Brisbane:

Brisbane Total Visitors – 1,149,000 - Record
Brisbane Overnight Visitor Expenditure – over $2 billion – Record
China – 220,000 up 18.6%
USA – 94,000 up 16.5%
Japan – 38,000 up 14.2%
Canada – 29,000 up 16.8%