The strengthening Aussie dollar isn’t scaring off international tourists.

Tourism experts from around the world visited Brisbane today to brief the local industry on the current market.

Emily Verdouw reports.

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TRANSCRIPT

A stronger dollar could have been bad news for inbound tourism.

But experts say, Queensland’s share of the market is growing.

Wendy Harch, Executive Director of International Group: “We’ve seen a lot of optismism return to the market place even in some markets like the UK for example we’ve seen an actual growth in the distribution network for Australia with new operators coming on board, that hasn’t happened in a really long time.”

European tourists are un-fazed by the price hikes, typically saving for two years before a holiday.

Kai Ostermann, Regional Director Europe: “So they prepare very well to travel here, in that case I guess it’s not too much of a problem.”

And tourism bosses are confident that holiday-makers from United States won’t pay much attention to the dollar.

Shana Pereira, Regional Director The Americas: “I still don’t think though that the actual exchange rate will have a serious negative impact on American’s travelling to Australia though.”

Close to two million International tourists came to Queensland last year, bringing three point eight five billion dollars into the states economy.

To keep building that growth, Queensland’s just rolled out its new marketing campaign and local tour operators are more than willing to work together to get the visitors.

Wayne Poole, Australia Zoo Business Development Manager: “People aren’t just coming to you know our neck of the woods to visit Australia Zoo, we’d love that but again they’re here for the holistic experience so they want to see the Great Barrier Reef, they want to see the theme parks, they want to see what Queensland has to offer.”

Emily Verdouw, QUT News.