Technically the data recorded by Mount Isa Entertainment and Tourism Venues shows the number of tourists visiting Outback At Isa. The tourist centre had been far busier compared to  2015. 

As of early May there had been 8138 tourists that had visited Outback at Isa this year. 

That is about a 25 per cent increase from the 6144 tourists that visited the tourist centre up until May in 2016.

Mount Isa locals that noticed a high number of caravans in the central business district last year would have been accurate. 

There had been more than double the attendees at Outback at Isa in 2016 than there had been in 2015.

In 2016 there were 53, 325 visitors to Outback at Isa. And the year before there were 25,514, in 2014 there were 24,818, in 2013 there was a slump to become 21,461, and in 2012 there were 25,289.

MIETV business manager Angi Matveyeff credited the increased numbers to an increased social media presence as well as face-to-face interactions. 

“It has certainly paid off,” she said. 

But social media was a difficult thing to measure in terms of how many numbers of tourists it has specifically attracted. It was difficult to place a monetary value on social media’s benefits, said tourism manager Kylie Rixon. 

Ms Rixon said that the numbers at Outback at Isa were counted whether they were locals, state, national or international visitors. 

She said there had been increased interstate visitors, especially from NSW and Victoria. 

The numbers at Outback at Isa were part of the trend showing positive results for western Queensland, while figures on the coast seemed to be declining, Ms Rixon said. 

According to Outback Queensland Tourism Association’s annual figures up to late 2016, there was an increase of 13.6 per cent of visitors to outback Queensland.