New attractions needed to make Australians holiday at home

New products and experiences are needed to entice Australians to holiday at home, with new figures showing domestic holiday travel remains flat, according to peak industry body, Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF).

Tourism Research Australia has today released the National Visitor Survey (NVS) for the December Quarter 2010, which shows that domestic visitor nights rose 1% in 2010 compared to 2009, with overnight expenditure also up 1%.

Overnight holiday travel, which accounts for almost 60% of domestic tourism spending, was virtually unchanged for the year, up just 0.3%, with visitor nights down 1.3% and expenditure up 1.1%. Meanwhile, business travel grew 5.1%, but expenditure was down 0.7%.

TTF Chief Executive John Lee said there must be a renewed focus on product improvements, stating

"Investing in new tourism infrastructure, products and experiences can play a key role in addressing this issue.

"It has the double benefit of giving Australians more reasons to holiday at home, but can also attract international visitors.

"Especially with the strong dollar enticing record numbers of Australians to travel overseas, it's vital that we offer unique and authentic experiences people can't enjoy anywhere else.

"We can't compete on price, so we have to compete on quality and offer premium services.

"The shift in focus to the supply side, as outlined in the National Long-Term Tourism Strategy, will not happen overnight but we need to have the right mechanisms in place to help that occur."

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

23rd March 2010 - UPTURN IN DOMESTIC TOURISM 

14th May 2009 - TOURISM SHOULD FOCUS ON QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY