An extra one million passengers are expected to pass through Brisbane Airport this month compared with the same time last year when COVID-19 restrictions were still affecting travel.
Last weekend the airport hit a post-pandemic record on Saturday, with 14,500 people passing through the international terminal.
About three million would move through the airport of the peak December to January period.
No breakdown has been provided in departures versus arrivals, which is key to the industry because of concerns that Australians would soon restart international travel while arrivals into Australia remained subdued. That data is compiled by the federal government and was not yet available.
However, anecdotally the arrivals-departures were running close to 50-50.
China has reopened its borders, allowing international travel, but there remains COVID testing for arrivals from the country, which is likely to affect numbers.
The Lunar New Year, a peak time for travel in Asia, will be on January 22 this year.
International capacity at Brisbane was at 63 per cent of pre-COVID numbers, while domestic travel was at 90 per cent.
The forecast for January is for 1.7 million passengers – significantly higher than 2022’s COVID-impacted figure of 741,860.
In January 2019, just over two million passengers went through the airport.
However, regional destinations reported bumper crowds. The Whitsundays broke all records in 2022.
According to the National Visitor Survey data released recently, there were a record 923,000 domestic visitors, who spent $1.5 billion in The Whitsundays, an increase of 179 per cent on 2019 data.
Destination Gold Coast was anticipating a $657 million injection into the economy over the period from Boxing Day to Australia Day.
More than 50 per cent of the visitors would come from interstate.
The tourism sector is undergoing a significant revival on the back of domestic travellers, with Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) tipping 1.7 million passengers in January.
Melbourne and Sydney bounce back
Melbourne was expecting almost six million people to pass through its terminals across December and January, a rise of about 150 per cent, while Sydney was anticipating 2.2 million passengers between December 12 and January 1 alone.
“If you think back to this time last year, international arrivals were capped at 1000 people per week, so we’ve come a long way,” Brisbane Airport chief executive Gert-Jan de Graaff said.
“When Brisbane Airport is busy, Queensland is busy. And that’s particularly great news for Queenslanders working in the tourism industry from Cairns to Coolangatta.”
The Gold Coast also welcomed 3.7 million domestic overnight visitors in the 12 months to September. Spending was a record $4.2 billion.
BAC said the largest number of overseas tourists had come from New Zealand, the UK and the US.
“Within Queensland, our busiest routes have been from Brisbane to Cairns, Townsville, Mackay and Rockhampton,” Mr de Graaf said.
Queenslanders travelling overseas have been heading to New Zealand, Bali and the UK.
But BAC said a full recovery in international travel was not expected until 2025.
“Each time a new flight is added to the schedule our passenger numbers slowly grow,” Mr de Graaf said.
“We’re looking forward to Jetstar beginning flights from Brisbane to Auckland from March 27, which will be the first time there’s been a low-cost carrier servicing this very important route for Queensland.
“Brisbane Airport has been humming all holiday period.
“The industry has come a long way since borders reopened last year, so to see more than three million people pass smoothly through Brisbane Airport across December and January is a great sign for Queensland’s economy.”
This article originally appeared in InQueensland.
