John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Growth in Australia's inbound tourism industry of 11 per cent over the past 12 months is almost triple the current average around the world. And Tourism Research Australia's advice of 29 per cent over the past three years is welcome news indeed.

While our Groom electorate has a strong diversified regional economy, we have much to do to develop our tourism sector. A 12 per cent decrease in international visitors to the Darling Downs over the past 12 months and a fall of 23 per cent in their average nights stayed is cause for concern, especially when Queensland as a whole has seen a rise of 10 per cent.

In January I convened a Toowoomba meeting with people including Mayor Paul Antonio, Councillor Geoff McDonald and John Wagner, together with Assistant Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Keith Pitt. Local tourism leaders have subsequently begun robust conversations about how our industry best attracts and services these visitors going forward. And I look forward to further developments.

Since my election last year, I have advocated that we must capitalise on current growth and infrastructure investment and develop the jobs of the future in our region. Defence industry opportunities abound. We are kicking goals in agricultural exports. We maintain our focus on health and education excellence. While we extracted $62 million from international visitors last year, there is much, much more to be done.