Aussies return to taking shorter breaks

The trend for domestic travel by Australians to consist of shorter trips closer to home is continuing, according to Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF) analysis of the latest National Visitor Survey.

The December 2011 National Visitor Survey shows domestic overnight trips rose 3.5% in 2011, with spending up 1.6%.

However, visitor nights rose by only 1.4% and spending per night increased only 0.2% over 2010, indicating shorter trips and reflecting a slight decline in holiday travel.

Day trips were up 3.4%, with spending up 7.0%.

TTF Chief Executive John Lee said the survey shows the current preference of Australians for overseas holidays.

Lee explained "considering the strong growth in Australians taking overseas holidays, the fall of 0.2 in trips and 1.1% in visitor nights is a good result and it illustrates the trend of shorter domestic holidays, with more people instead holidaying internationally."

"That underscores the importance of investing in new tourism product to give Australians new reasons to holiday at home.

"With the Australian dollar tipped to remain strong for some time, significant investment in new accommodation and attractions is required to give Australia's tourism industry a competitive boost.

"While we welcome the federal government's investment in small-scale tourism projects through the T-Qual grants program, we need a renewed focus on facilitating major projects as demand drivers to kickstart the growth required to reach the Tourism 2020 targets.

"Despite the forecast growth in international arrivals, especially from China, domestic travel accounts for around 70% of tourism spending and will continue to be the mainstay of the tourism industry in the decades to come.

"This also underlines the need for state government support for tourism development and domestic marketing."

For more information go to www.ret.gov.au/tourism/research/tra/Pages/default.aspx 

Image: Camping at Wilsons Promontory.

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