Benefits of drive tourism to rural and regional businesses

Businesses in rural and regional communities rely on income from drive tourists (on stopovers), as they are often encouraged to buy local tourism products and services, and basic travel necessities like fuel, food and other supplies. Drive tourism provides a number of benefits to businesses, including:

• increased profits
• job growth
• opportunities for new business start-up
• increased demand for new products and services
• opportunities for business collaboration
• addressing skills shortages by tapping into the skills of temporary visitors.

Key measures of success for Queensland's drive tourism market include the number of tourists embarking on self-drive journeys, the length of their journeys, the time they spend in particular places and the amount of money they spend. This market is expected to experience significant growth due to Australia's ageing population and a corresponding increase in retirees who travel around Australia.

Self-drive routes

Queensland has a number of popular self-drive routes. On a self-drive journey, tourists often drive from town to town, stopping over to sample products, services and experiences from local businesses.

If you are running a business along one of these popular self-drive routes you should consider how you can attract visitors to your business and take full advantage of the drive tourism market.

If you are looking at starting a business in regional Queensland, think about how you can take advantage of the nearest major self-drive routes and attract drive tourists to your business.

Some of Queensland's most popular self-drive routes include:

• Pacific Coast Way (Cairns to Brisbane)
• Adventure Way (Brisbane to South Australian border)
• Warrego Way (Brisbane to Charleville)
• Australia's Country Way (Wallangarra to Rockhampton)
• Great Inland Way (Hebel to Cairns)
• Great Tropical Drive (Townsville to Cairns)
• Savannah Way (Cairns to Northern Territory border)
• Matilda Way (Cunnamulla to Karumba)
• Overlander's Way (Townsville to Northern Territory border).

Also consider...

• Find research and insights into domestic and international markets and destinations from Tourism and Events Queensland.
• Read domestic visitor profiles from Tourism Research Australia.
• Develop your unique selling points to market your products and services.

There are number of opportunities for Queensland businesses to grow from drive tourism. There are many strategies businesses can use to attract drive tourists to their town and build on existing drive tourism markets in their region. These include:

• developing unique products, services, or experiences
• targeted packaging, advertising and marketing
• working with regional tourism organisations
• collaborating with other local and regional businesses
• lobbying local government for improved tourism amenities and infrastructure.

Applying for tourism signage

The Queensland Government has reviewed signage guidelines, developed a streamlined assessment process and revised administrative arrangements for the installation of tourist signs for commercial tourist attractions and service signs on state-controlled roads.

The use of these guidelines will improve road safety and lead to a major improvement in the quality and consistency of tourist signs throughout the state.

To apply, operators must meet all sign requirements and criteria for their category of tourist attraction or type of service.

Learn more about applying for a tourist or service sign.

Offering unique products, services and experiences

In a state as large as Queensland, drive tourists have access to many journeys and experiences. Promoting unique tourism products, services and experiences will encourage tourists to stopover in your town and contribute to your business. Without something that sets your business apart from others, and gives tourists a reason to stopover, drive tourists may bypass you altogether.

Learn more about experience design and development to create unique products and services.

Learning digital skills

Digital business and marketing skills are becoming more important for tourism businesses. New technologies and social media are creating more opportunities to inform, interact and engage with past and potential customers.

Learn more about websites, social media and digital marketing.

Also consider...

• Search the Queensland Tourism Industry Council (QTIC) Grants Gateway to find grants and funding.
• Use the Tourism and Events Queensland's Industry resources to find drive tourism information and resources.
• Read the latest tourism industry research.
• Visit the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse for services and products for the tourism industry.
• Use our tourism service quality toolkit to improve your customer service.
• Learn about investment opportunities in Queensland's tourism industry.