It is important to place all discussion in the context that this visitor survey was run during the COVID-19 pandemic. As reported in the Tourism in the Granite Belt Destination Report, the destination lost all visitors for periods of time during 2020 and 2021 but also experienced high levels of visitation at other times. The visitor survey respondents represent the largest group of pre-COVID visitors, that is visitors from Queensland, mostly southeast Queensland, who stay overnight. Overall, respondents reported positive experiences and high satisfaction with their visits to the destination during this time period. Findings regarding businesses not being open and respondents needing more information may all be exacerbated due to the difficulties of the tourism sector operating during this time. Overall, wine tourism was confirmed as the most important destination attraction, with 92% of survey respondents visiting a winery and 40% of respondents saying that the ability to visit wineries was essential to their decision to visit to the destination. Other attractions were also important, indicating the benefits for a destination of providing a cluster of attractions. A survey of visitors to the Granite Belt destination was conducted between July 2020 and May 2021. The survey was administered via postcards and an online questionnaire, to comply with COVID safe requirements. A sample of 279 respondents was achieved, which was sufficient for the planned analysis. Due to COVID restricted travel, the respondents were mostly from Queensland and there were no international visitors. The sample of respondents does represent the group of visitors who were the majority of visitors pre COVID, namely overnight visitors from Queensland (mainly southeast Queensland.). It is noted that the day tripper perspective is underrepresented in the survey. The socio-demographic and travel characteristics of respondents are very similar to data from Tourism Research Australia on visitors pre COVID, but slightly skewed to female and older respondents. The destination continues to predominately attract local Queensland visitors, mostly of mid to older age groups, travelling as couples for short visits (2 to 4 days). The most common activities that survey respondents participated in were visiting wineries and national parks (around 92% of respondents visited each of these attractions) and 86% visited other tourist or local attractions: (e.g., breweries, farms, going to street/weekend/art &craft markets, going on guided tours). This indicates that there is a clustering of attractions in this destination. Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) was undertaken, where respondents rated 40 sub-attributes of 6 destination attributes on a scale of 1 (Not at all Important/ Very dissatisfied) to 5 (Very important/Very satisfied). General environment & accessibility (10 sub-attributes) • Wineries (7 sub-attributes) • National parks (5 sub-attributes) • Other activities, attractions, and events (7 sub-attributes) • Accommodation (6 sub-attributes) • Dining (5 sub-attributes) Overall destination rating was high – over 4 out of 5 for most sub-attributes. Overall Mean (average) Importance was 4.2 and overall Mean Performance was 4.6. Importance refers to how important a respondent thinks an attribute was in choosing to visit to the destination and Performance rates how satisfied respondents were with the experience. IPA allows sub-attributes to be grouped for management purposes into those meeting expectations (Category 1), those needing improvement due to expectations exceeding experience (Category 2) and those where it is best not to devote scarce resources (Categories 3 and 4). Over half the sub-attributes fell in the Category 1 “Keep up the good work” = important attribute and good/high performance reported. Six sub-attributes fell into Category 2 “Concentrate here” = important but rated as not performing as well. While ratings for these sub-attributes were high, expectation exceeded experience for around 30% of respondents. Thus, it is recommended that destination managers and businesses consider how visitor experience can be improved for these sub-attributes: quality of wine, price of wine, price of accommodation, diversity of cuisine and beverage, food and beverage quality and services in the restaurant/ café. Visiting the Granite Belt was the prime reason for travel for the majority of survey respondents, with more than two-thirds of respondents indicating visiting the Granite Belt destination was the only reason to make their trip away from home (that is, no other destinations were important on that trip). Using hypothetical scenarios - of either or both wineries and national parks being closed - it was found that wineries being open was essential for around 40% of respondents to visit the Granite Belt destination and national parks being open was essential for around 30% of respondents. However, 42% of respondents would visit the Granite Belt anyway even if these attractions were closed, Most respondents indicated that they were satisfied (35%) or very satisfied (61%) with their overall experience and would return to the Granite Belt region within a year (74%). Of those respondents who indicated possible future visits in the next 12 months, most respondents would return to the region once (86%). Using the Net Promoter system (Hotjar, 2021), respondents were categorised into three groups—promoters (highly likely to recommend the destination to others), passives (somewhat likely to recommend the destination) and detractors (not likely to recommend the destination). Around 94% of total respondents were found to be promoters (68%) and passives (26%) while only 6% were detractors. Four open-ended questions asked respondents to comment on memorable experiences, activities that visitors would like to see or would encourage respondents to stay longer as well as comments to the Granite Belt destination tourism authorities. Written comments received for the open-ended questions included many very positive memorable experiences associated with visits to Girraween and other national parks, the wineries, and many other attractions and also the friendliness and helpfulness of locals and staff. Additional activities suggested included more walking and hiking trails, mountain biking, rock climbing and other outdoor and sport activities. Other activities suggested included indigenous tourism experiences, more festivals (music, wine, cultural etc.), art and craft shops. More family oriented and pet friendly activities were also recommended. Respondents became more critical when it came to dining offerings in the destination. There were many comments calling for more dining options and more variety and noting difficulty in finding places open when respondents were visiting. This is consistent with the IPA which found a need for improvements in Dining: Diversity of cuisine and beverage; food and beverage quality; and services in the restaurant/ café. Alternatively, cellar door or wine offerings did not attract such criticism and most written comments on wine experiences were positive. This is despite the IPA finding a need to consider improvement in Wineries: quality of wine; and price of wine. A notable number of comments cited difficulties from the respondents’ perspective in getting coordinated and timely information, especially online, on what was open or not open. Respondents also noted that there was a lack of businesses being open during the week, businesses did not coordinate opening times and that opening hours seemed to be inconsistent (although several respondents recognised COVID-19 uncertainty could have been a factor). In written comments, respondents advised tourism authorities to assist in business coordination, promote the destination through marketing and improve information for visitors, including about national parks.