Tourists spending more in Queensland, figures show

Premier Campbell Newman was so pleased with the increase to the state's visitor expenditure numbers, he "planted a big kiss" on the tourism minister's cheek.

Jann Stuckey was still beaming as she announced the combined results of both the national and international visitor surveys conducted by Tourism Research Australia, which found that 18 million Australians spent more than $14 billion on visits to Queensland in the year to September.

That works out to a two per cent increase in visitors and a 6 per cent increase in visitor expenditure.

Sydneysiders boosted their visits by 30 per cent, accounting for 1.8 million of Queensland's visitors, while business travel – including to regional centres such as Mackay – added 3.3 million visitors and $2 billion in expenditure.

But Ms Stuckey would not be drawn on what the Abbot Point coal terminal expansion would mean for tourism centres which relied on the Great Barrier Reef as a drawcard, other than to say no one wanted to see the world heritage site "damaged".

"I am really concerned about making sure that the tourism that we attract to this state does not have any negative impact," she said.

"And that is why it was important for us to put out an eco-tourism strategy so that we are able to encourage our tourists into our beautiful, lovely destinations, without damaging what we all know to be our world class heritage [site] with the reef.

"I am sure that dredging would be done in a very careful way and as you can see Queensland has a vast suite of destinations..."

Ms Stuckey said she would "make sure" that issues, such as UNESCO possibly labelling the reef "in danger" were discussed at her tourism cabinet committee.

"What is really important is the government understands the value of the reef, we understand the importance of tourism," she said.

"Nobody wants to damage one of your most attractive things, such as the reef, so we are going to approach, very carefully, anything which will affect or damage the reef."

The government has committed to doubling overnight visitor expenditure from $15 billion to $30 billion by 2020.