The impacts of the 2011 extreme weather events on holiday choices of Brisbane residents

Abstract

The summer of 2010–2011 was characterised by extreme weather events in Queensland. In late December 2010 and early January 2011, heavy rainfall produced a series of floods across the state. Three quarters of the state was declared a disaster zone and many thousands of people were evacuated from their homes. Brisbane city experienced the worst floods since 1974. Three cyclones crossed the coast; including the category 5 Cyclone Yasi. These events had a devastating impact on the tourist industry. However, some revenue losses may have been offset by geographical or temporal gains if tourists had changed their destination (destination substitution) or delayed their holiday plans and went to the same intended destination at a later date (temporal substitution). A survey of Brisbane residents was conducted in August 2012 to explore the impacts of the 2010–2011 weather events on their holiday plans and to examine the impacts of destination or temporal substitution. Contrary to expectations, the results indicated the holiday plans of 84 per cent of Brisbane survey respondents were unaffected by the 2010–2011 weather events and there was greater prevalence of temporal substitution than destination substitution.