Domestic tourism riding high
Australians are taking more domestic overnight holidays according to figures from the latest National Visitor Survey released by Tourism Research Australia.
“Good growth in domestic tourism in 2012 is positive news for the tourism industry and it is heartening to see growth accelerate later in the year with a strong December quarter for domestic overnight travel,” according to former tourism minister Martin Ferguson.
“Much of the growth over the year can be attributed to those visiting friends and relatives, which rose 7%, while visitor nights and overnight expenditure for this purpose increased by 9% and 15% respectively. The type of accommodation used reflected the growth in the visiting friends and relatives segment with nights spent in a friend’s or relatives’ property up 8%. Nights spent in caravan and camping accommodation increased 10% and rented accommodation increased 6%.
“Domestic day travel also grew strongly in 2012 with trips up 8% to 174 million and day trip expenditure increasing 11% to $18.2 billion.”
Domestic overnight travel returned strong results in 2012 with overnight trips and nights up 4% to 74.5 million and 282 million respectively while expenditure rose 3% to $50 billion. This growth was underpinned by a strong December quarter where trips and nights increased by 9% and expenditure rose 4%.
Intrastate trips – or travel within Australian’s own state – increased by 5% and intrastate visitor nights by 6%. Interstate travel showed some improvement in the December quarter after a relatively flat year.
Leading the growth in domestic travel were the Northern Territory with an 11% increase in overnight trips, the Australian Capital Territory with a 9% increase, and WA recording 8% growth.
Martin Ferguson resigned his portfolios last Friday in the wake of the federal government leadership fiasco.
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