During Queensland Tourism Week 2025, the Department of Trade, Employment and Training (DTET) hosted its Strategic Dialogue Series for Tourism, bringing together 30 tourism industry leaders, including Tourism and Events Queensland CEO Craig Davidson, QTIC CEO Natassia Wheeler, and QTIC Industry Skills and Jobs Advisor Kathryn Moody. 

The Strategic Dialogue Series aims to capture direct, industry-led insights to help shape government action. Feedback provided by tourism leaders at the event will inform DTET’s response to actions allocated to the Department under Destination 2045: Delivering Queensland’s Tourism future.

The discussion highlighted the continued strength of Queensland’s tourism economy. The latest Tourism Industry Snapshot confirms the sector contributes $37.6 billion to the state, supports more than 156,000 direct jobs, and is forecast to grow by 3.8 per cent by 2028-29. Queensland also welcomed over 71.4 million visitors in 2024 and is home to more than 65,000 tourism-related businesses – more than half located outside of Brisbane – demonstrating the sector’s critical contribution to regional economies.

The event also marked the launch of the Queensland Government’s Right Skills Strategy 2025-2028, which includes several commitments of directly supporting the tourism and hospitality workforce. The Strategy outlines a statewide investment of over $5 billion across four years to ensure Queensland has the right skills, in the right place, at the right time. 

Photo – courtesy of the Queensland Government