Day Trips Dominate Domestic Tourism

Figures from the Australian Government's National Visitor Survey released today show Australia's domestic tourism market is holding strong for both the March quarter and the year ending March 2010 despite challenges from a competitive international market.
Commenting on the figures, Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson noted positive growth in the March 2010 quarter for visitor expenditure and day trip visitors, and a recovery in business travel.
Minister Ferguson stated âdomestic tourism is the industryâs bread and butter, it accounts for almost three quarters of Australiaâs tourism consumption so it is encouraging to see continuing solid performance.
âA boost in business travel is good news. Business travellers are big spenders- this sector is especially important for hotels, airlines, taxis, restaurants, convention centres and many other tourism businesses.
âThe strong Australian dollar, increasing airline competition, and the lure of nearby international destinations present ongoing challenges to our domestic industry.
âIndustry has succeeded in competing for the discretionary dollar of day trip visitors and now has to rise to the challenge of encouraging visitors to stay overnight.
The Australian Government has committed $5.5 million over four years to roll out the National Tourism Accreditation Framework (NTAF). The NTAF will lift standards and recognise quality by allowing participating businesses to display the TQUAL Mark.
âFor the first time, we are backing the TQUAL Mark with the marketing power of Tourism Australia,�? Minister Ferguson added.
âAccreditation will help businesses compete for the domestic tourism market on the basis of quality and give them the opportunity to convert day visitors to overnight visitors.�?
For the March quarter 2010 overnight trips and visitor nights remained constant. Visitor expenditure rose by 4% to $11.5 billion and day trip visitors increased by 8%. Victoria (up 3%), Tasmania (up 8%), Northern Territory (up 3%) and the ACT (up 32%) all experienced a strong March quarter in terms of visitor nights. While New South Wales (down 1%), South Australia (down 12%) and Western Australia (down 8%) experienced declines and Queensland visitor nights remained steady for the quarter.
For the twelve months to March 2010, visitor nights declined nationally by 1%, overnight trips were down 3%, and visitor expenditure remained steady at $42.9 billion while day trip visitors increased 9% to 147.5 million day trips.
The complete results from the National Visitor Survey can be downloaded from

http://www.ret.gov.au/tra