Hervey Bay News
They just keep on coming...
25th September 2006 Fraser Coast Chronicle
Ted Sorensen is about as happy as a dog with two tails after hearing that Hervey Bay has maintained its place on the list as Australia's third fastest growing city.
The city's mayor had just seen figures released by the premier's department that show seven of the top 10 fastest growing cities in the country are in Queensland. Still top of the list is Mandurah in Western Australia with population growth of 5.32% in the 12 months from June 2004 to June 2005.
Then comes second-placed Bunbury, also in WA, with a growth rate of 5% followed by Hervey Bay at 4.89%
The next in line is Mackay with 3.21% growth, Townsville 3.01%, Nowra/Bomaderry in New South Whales at 2.75%, Sunshine Coast 2.56%, Toowoomba 2.47%, Gold Coast/Tweed 2.47% and Cairns 2.43%.
Mr Sorenson said the thousands of extra people moving to the city had not taken the council by surprise.
‘We haven't been like other cities, especially like Toowoomba, because we've got water requirements and sewage infrastructure in hand,’ he said. ‘We are spending lots of money on roads, parks and foreshore improvements to cater for the increased population.’
‘In case of massive growth like this you have to be on top of water supply management and with the introduction of water tanks to new homes in the city, we think we are on top of things.’
Courtesy of Fraser Coast Chronicle
Fraser Coast South Burnett tourism growth continues to go against state and national trends.
20th September 2006
Strong tourism growth in the Fraser Coast South Burnett tourism destinations continues to defy National and State tourism trends with impressive growth in domestic visitation and nights spent in the two destinations.
The beginning of the year has clearly been good to the Fraser Coast and South Burnett, with the region achieving significant growth in domestic visitors to the region, according to Tourism Queensland’s Domestic Tourism Snapshot for the period ending March 2006. The national domestic visitation continued its slump, down by 6.6%, and Queensland domestic visitation also declined by 6.4% year ended March 2006.
Continuing from excellent growth in 2005 Fraser Coast South Burnett’s domestic visitation has sustained its upward trend, growing by 1.3% in the year to March. Once again a solid result in the number of visitor domestic nights to the Fraser Coast South Burnett region has seen an increase of 12%, placing the destination in the number two placement of growth within the state, with only the first quarter of the year measured. Most other regions in Queensland experienced a decline in domestic visitor nights.
According to Damien Massingham, General Manager, Fraser Coast South Burnett Tourism, these figures are the result of a number of factors.
"Clearly, Hervey Bay City Council along with the Airlines have been dedicated to maintaining and increasing jet services to the region and this continues continue to pay off by boosting domestic travel to our region, particularly from interstate. The drive market has also markedly increased to the region which proves that petrol prices are not affecting tourism visitation to our area" said Mr Massingham.
"Another reason for these results is that local operators and other stakeholders into various domestic marketing campaigns that Fraser Coast South Burnett Tourism has initiated and these are gaining traction," stated Mr Massingham.
"As a region, we continue to reinforce our position as one of the country’s leading nature destinations, and obviously this is working with thousands of Australians coming to see this beautiful part of their backyard," Mr Massingham stated.
Compared with the year ended March 2005, the average length of stay has increased to 3.8 nights in the Fraser Coast South Burnett region, where as most other Queensland regions decreased.
Courtesy of Fraser Coast South Burnett Regional Toursim Board Ltd
