AUSTRALIA | The Gold Coast has once again proven its power as the capital for family entertainment and tourism in Australia.
Domestic travel to the Gold Coast has never been stronger, with FY24 topping the charts as Gold Coast Airport’s busiest year on record for domestic passengers.
More than 5.6 million people travelled through the airport on Australian routes, with Sydney and Melbourne connections falling within the top five busiest routes in the country.
Queensland Airports Limited’s Chief Operating Officer Marion Charlton said the year surpassed the previous record by more than 210,000 passengers.
“Cost-of-living pressures are seeing Australian travellers choose domestic travel destinations like the Gold Coast overtaking their family overseas,” Charlton said.
“This was particularly obvious during the summer school holidays – January was our busiest month in history for domestic travel with the busiest day for the year on January 14,” she said.
“While international travel has been softer compared to pre-pandemic levels, domestic travel is making up the difference with around five percent more domestic travellers this year than in FY19.”
In total – Gold Coast Airport welcomed more than 6.3 million travellers throughout FY24, including 706,000 international travellers, which is in line with pre-pandemic and five percent upon last year.
Travel to and from New Zealand also increased, with around eight percent more passengers travelling on one of Gold Coast Airport’s four Trans-Tasman routes throughout the year.
Gold Coast Airport is also set to undergo a major renovation within the next few years. This is expected to be completed before the 2032 Summer Olympic Games to be held in Brisbane. Recently, an expansion to Gold Coast Airport’s domestic departure lounge has opened, just in time for the winter school holidays, marking a major milestone in the terminal’s ongoing transformation.
The $17 million project included the refurbishment of the old international area within the existing terminal, following the shift of international services into the southern end of the terminal with the completion of a $260 million terminal expansion in 2022.
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