SYDNEY, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Australia's regional tourism businesses are expecting a very busy and profitable four days as city visitors tour the countryside during the Easter break which begins on Friday.
The National Australia Bank (NAB) estimated tourists would generate more than 890 million Australian dollars (about 663.3 million U.S. dollars) for regional economies throughout the holiday.
Julie Rynski, executive of Business Regional and Agribusiness Australia in NAB, said regional attractions were expected to have an 83 percent sales spike in comparison to the previous week, with winery sales up by 18 percent, while restaurants, bars, and hotels could see a 10 percent surge.
Rynski said it would be a "much-needed boost to small and medium businesses in these communities" which had struggled throughout the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years.
"Every time we choose to holiday and visit regional Australia, we help boost businesses in these towns but also support ongoing investment in schools, hospitals and community infrastructure," she said.
It is a sentiment shared by Stuart Ayres, tourism minister for the state of New South Wales (NSW), who told Xinhua on Thursday that the state's "visitor economy is showing strong signs of recovery."
Ayres said he expected destinations such as the agricultural city of Orange in the state's Central Tablelands, Lord Howe Island and coastal retreats such as Byron Bay and Jervis Bay would all be particularly popular over Easter.
"There is a huge appetite for NSW as a holiday destination and this Easter weekend. We expect to see our tourism industry spring back to life," Ayres said.
North of NSW is the "sunshine state" of Queensland, home to Associate Professor Alexandra Coghlan from the Griffith Institute for tourism, who told Xinhua that Easter would be an exciting time for regional tourism.
"Travelling closer to home was something we saw a lot during the pandemic and it's wonderful to see it continuing as we emerge from what have been really tough times for tourism," she said.
Coghlan also noted that attracting visitors to regional areas was a "great way to diversify local economies because tourism is a complex sector, with a wide and diverse range of providers and suppliers."
Queensland Tourism Industry Council Chief Executive Officer Daniel Gschwind told Xinhua that tourism activity was a "complete turnaround" from recent years when the national tourism industry lost an estimated 146 billion Australian dollars (about 108.8 billion U.S. dollars) due to border closures and lockdowns.
"This extended long weekend is the first really strong sign of the revival," Gschwind said, adding that Queensland's airports were recording record numbers of domestic tourists.
Among those airports is Cairns in the state's far north, with the city's newspaper the Cairns Post reporting that more than 14,000 domestic passengers were due to land or depart on Thursday.
Meanwhile in south of the NSW border, regional tourism is also anticipating a "bumper long weekend", according to Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) Chief Executive Officer Felicia Mariani.
"This is going to be the first uninterrupted school holidays Victorians have had in more than two years, so there will be a wave of tourists due to that build up in demand," Mariani told Xinhua.
One business ready to ride that wave is Peninsular Hot Springs, whose owner Charles Davidson predicted a surge of visitors from the capital city of Melbourne, which is about a 90-minute drive away.
"Spots are filling up very quickly and we expect to be fully booked across the entire Easter and Anzac break (Monday, April 25)," Davidson said.
"The last few public holidays before winter are always our busiest season, so we're excited to be operating at capacity."
