Even a cyclone couldn’t stop the Gold Coast from further cementing itself as one of the most popular tourism destinations in the country.
New data out today has revealed the city has ranked number one in Queensland for overnight expenditure and number two in Australia, only behind Melbourne.
According to Tourism Research Australia, the Gold Coast saw a total of 1.2 million overnight visitors to the city in the first three months of the year, spending a whopping $1.8 billion.
Overnight holiday visitors spent $1.3 billion, accounting for more than 70% of total visitor spend.
“These figures underscore our city’s continual efforts to reinvent itself with new resorts, properties and attractions on offer,’’ Acting Gold Coast Mayor Mark Hammel said.
“Having new products come online encourages people to stay an extra day or two, boosting our visitor spend and helping the city’s more than 80,000 small businesses. Let’s hope the rest of 2025 delivers unique holiday experiences for millions of visitors.’’
Over 634,000 international visitors travelled to the Gold Coast in the year to March, contributing to a new international expenditure record for Queensland of $6.3 billion.
New Zealand continues to be the Gold Coast’s biggest international market with 215,000 visitors, while China has seen significant growth over the past year, reaching 53,000 visitors which is up more than 20% compared to 12 months ago.
Meantime, India experienced the largest growth, with 27,000 visitors in the year ending March 2025, up 58% on the previous year.
The Gold Coast’s other top international regions were the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan.
Experience Gold Coast CEO John Warn said the results showed the strength of the Gold Coast’s appeal as a holiday destination, despite the city being impacted by a once in a 50-year cyclone in March.
“The Gold Coast remains one of the most popular places to holiday in Australia and the second biggest holiday market, coming second only to Melbourne in overnight visitor expenditure and number one in Queensland,” Mr Warn said.
“In the first three months of the year we welcomed 685,000 overnight visitors from across Queensland and 552,000 interstate overnight visitors. That is all great news for our local visitor economy that was hit hard by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred in March.
“The Gold Coast’s recovery from a visitation point of view has been incredible. We had a record April school holidays and Easter period off the back of a bold marketing campaign and our tourism operators were instrumental to this success.”
