Summer tourism

Tourism promotion had boosted booking for companies involved in the venture by 49 per cent.

He said Gold Coast Hinterland holiday bookings were up 35 per cent and Caloundra up 50 per cent on 12 months ago.Tourists were being drawn from New South Wales and Victoria, he said.

“The biggest areas that we draw people from are New South Wales and Victoria and they are back to Queensland in greater numbers,” he said.

“It should also be borne in mind that Far North Queensland is also doing very well.”

One of Queensland’s key holiday booking accommodation providers, the Mantra Group – which operates hotels on the Gold and Sunshine coasts and in North Queensland – is showing a five per cent increase in bookings overall.

“In Far North Queensland, the Mantra Group is seeing a six per cent increase, while on the Sunshine Coast it is 6.5 per cent increase. So the good news is spreading right across the state,” Mr Elmes said.

He disagreed that it would be a backward step to remove penalty rates for tourism operators – as is being considered in a discussion paper released last week by Attorney General Jarrod Bleijie – if the tourism industry were already seeing signs of recovery.

“That is an issue for the Attorney-General,” Mr Elmes said.

“But generally what you have to do is – no matter what the industry is, and in this case we are talking about tourism – is to ensure that you are competitive,” he said.

Mr Elmes said the government wanted to raise productivity across all industries, not just tourism, as part of the discussion paper review.

English tourist, Emily Cowan, from the Isle of Man, said 2012 in Queensland was her first hot Christmas, and she had already visited the Gold and Sunshine coasts and North Queensland.

“We are off to the Woodford Folk Festival next week,” her fiancée Andrew Bazzo said.

Queensland’s beauty is in its natural environment, Emily said.“It is so different from everything I have known before. I have only been in the Northern Hemisphere,” she said.

“When you are in Europe it is all the buildings and the European culture.

“Here it is just the amazing beaches and the trees and the views and the weather. It is just the natural beauty.”