New research has shown that of the one million visitors who enjoy the Redlands each year, 325,000 of them stayed for a night or more with family and friends, making local residents our unofficial tour guides.
The independent market research also showed that in the past 12 months, almost 50% of visitors who stayed one night or more in the Redlands stayed with family and/or friends, with the other 50% staying in paid accommodation.
On average, local households hosted visitors from outside the Redlands around three times a year, with these visitors staying for around one week. Nearly 60% of these local hosts preferred to eat locally and see our local attractions.
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This comes as no surprise to Redland City Council Mayor, Karen Williams, who said that the Redlands is not just another leafy outer suburb of Brisbane.
“The Redlands is distinctively different with our beautiful bay islands and the world-famous North Stradbroke Island at our doorstep.
“There is so much untapped potential in the Redlands and I believe we are the jewel in the crown of the greater Brisbane area. Visitors who come here go away with fond memories of the warm welcome and strong community spirit as well as the natural beauty and adventure opportunities in the area,” she added.
“Our strengths have seen good growth in our tourism industry – directly and indirectly visitors spend around $508 million dollars a year in the Redlands and support 6,903 jobs.
“Now I would like to see the Redlands stand out in the Moreton Bay and Islands tourist area and for our tourism industry to grow exponentially. Our own residents are passionate ambassadors of all we have to offer in the Redlands,” Mayor Williams said.
In the market research, locals indicated they had a strong interest in having greater opportunities for themselves and their visitors to tap into different experiences in the Redlands.
Eighty percent of locals would like to see a major event being held in the Redlands and 78% would like to see more dining options and activities around the waterfront areas. A further 64% of locals said they wanted to see a holiday or caravan park on the mainland.
Council is using the results of the survey to help support tourism in the area, inform residents of the many local attractions, events and experiences, and to assist local tourism operators in taking advantage of this sizeable, and often invisible, sector of the local tourism market.
