Tourism Research Australia adopts new domestic tourism data platform

For the first time in nearly 30 years, Tourism Research Australia (TRA) is adopting a new and innovative way of measuring domestic travel, with the rollout of the quarterly Domestic Tourism Statistics (DoTS) as of this week.

Designed to better support governments, industry, and businesses, the new system will help stakeholders respond more effectively to emerging trends and visitor behaviour, the innovative data platform - which offers a more detailed and accurate picture of domestic travel across the country - was announced by the Federal Minister for Trade and Tourism, Don Farrell.

Senator Farrell advised "DoTS will provide an improved snapshot of domestic travel, which will help governments, industry and businesses to better understand and respond to trends.

The first of these releases, covering the March quarter 2025, demonstrated the strength of the Aussie summer holiday, with nearly 29 million overnight trips and more than $27 billion spent across the country.

The new methodology combines mobile phone data and survey information, for a more cost-effective, and world-leading approach to measuring tourism. DoTS has also been designed to adapt to include new data sources in the future.

Image credit: Australian Tourism Accreditation Program.