Adelaide residents Australia’s most regular beachgoers

The last five years have seen Perth residents go from being the country’s most regular beach visitors, to the least, according to new data from Roy Morgan Research.

In the summer of 2009/10, a peak of 56% of Perth residents reported having visited a beach, either locally or elsewhere, within the past three months. This put Perth residents well ahead of those in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide (each peaking at 49%), and Sydney (45%) as the country’s most likely to hit the sand. 

Next year, in the summer of 2010/11, fewer residents of all mainland capital cities except Sydney went to the beach. Over the next two years beach-going rates in all cities except Adelaide continued to decline, with Perth undergoing the biggest drop: by the summer of 2012/13, Perth residents became more likely not to visit the beach.

In the summer of 2013/14, beach-going rates in nearly all cities bounced back to 2009/10 levels - except in Perth, where the rate fell again to 43% for a total decline of 16% points over the past five years.

Annual summer beach-going peaks in mainland capitals

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), Oct 2009 to Sept 2014, average sample size n=18,842 residents 14+ of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide or Perth.

The decline in the rate of beach-going among Perth residents over this time could be naturally attributed to a spate of shark attacks off the Western Australian coast since mid-2010.

Nationally, a peak of 8.7 million Australians aged 14+ (45%) went to the beach at least once within a three month period over the summer of 2013/14, the highest proportion since 2009/10.

Commenting on Australians’ beach going trends, Roy Morgan Research Industry Communications Director Norman Morris explained “with the vast majority of residents living on the coast and summer temperatures often peaking in the mid-40s across many parts of the country, it’s no wonder Australia is a beach-going nation.”

Image: Glenelg Beach

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