In recent weeks, I have spoken about how the impacts of the pandemic are changing consumer trends and the way Australians are choosing to travel in 2021.
From an increase in nostalgic drive holidays with the family, to exploring the great outdoors away from the hustle and bustle, and working remotely while on a relaxing getaway, travel this year is shaping up to be even more different than we could ever have imagined.
Across the nation, these trends are clearly being felt and are reflected in consumers’ online activity when planning their next holiday. Our ‘Always On’ digital strategy means that we are continually engaging with digitally savvy travelers while they research, plan, and book their trip.
Our destination website bundabergregion.org helps us to deliver a meaningful experience to those people considering visiting our region. From this, we are also able to see where our potential visitors are from.
Over the last 12 months (January 2020 to January 2021), we have seen an increase in visitors to our website from within Queensland, with 84 percent of people exploring the region digitally from South East Queensland.
This increase shows us that similar to current trends around the country, people are looking to take holidays close to home and stay within their state. Because of our short 4-hour drive from Brisbane, where visitors can easily be enjoying our beautiful outdoors and wide-open spaces before lunch, these trends are changing consumer travel behaviours.
This has had a positive effect on our tourism industry, local businesses, and economy as even when interstate borders are closed, Queenslanders are still keen to get out and explore their own backyard.
The trends on our website are being reflected in Queensland’s tourism website as well, with the majority of people visiting the website from within our state. In January 2021, queensland.com also saw the highest number of visitors to the website in one month in years, with a whopping 620,0000 people exploring all the things to see and do in Queensland.
By knowing where our website visitors and Queensland’s are from, we can see the forecasted trends starting to play out, with the desire for safe, close to home trips with family and friends, clearly impacting consumers’ travel behaviour. A great opportunity for the Bundaberg region!
Yours in tourism,
Katherine Reid, CEO
PS: If there are other things you would like to see in this column about tourism – let us know on our corporate Facebook page at www.facebook.com/bundabergtourism
