Martin Ferguson
Minister for Resources and Energy
Minister for Tourism
Senator Nick Sherry
Minister for Small Business
Minister Assisting on Deregulation and Public Sector Superannuation
Minister Assisting on Tourism
New data by Tourism Research Australia shows domestic travel increased last year, lead by business travel which was up five per cent on the previous year. The December Quarter was weaker for domestic leisure and business travel.
“We’re seeing strong growth in visits to Australia from overseas despite the strength of our dollar. At the same time, three quarters of tourism business is done domestically so there is a real opportunity there for operators to tap into the State and Federal Tourism marketing campaigns,” said Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson AM MP.
“Australians are taking more short breaks and spending is also increasing.
“The importance of continuing to drive domestic tourism through the No leave, No Life marketing campaign is clear when you look at the fact that Australians have more than 100 million days of accumulated annual leave worth more than $33 billion in wages.”
“Given the impacts on business from the floods and Cyclone Yasi, we are rolling out a Tourism Industry Support Package to help the many small businesses in Queensland who are feeling the effects of a drop-off in visitors,” said the Minister Assisting on Tourism, Senator Nick Sherry.
“This targeted assistance includes millions of dollars for marketing and promotional campaigns to help Queensland’s tourism operators send out the message to potential customers both domestically and internationally they’re open for business as usual.”
The latest figures in the National Visitor Survey from Tourism Research Australia show:
- Domestic overnight travel increased during the year ending December 2010 (up two per cent) and the December Quarter 2010 (up three per cent);
- Visitor nights and expenditure were up (one per cent) for the year ending December 2010 but down (two per cent and one per cent respectively) for the December Quarter 2010; and
- Domestic overnight business trips were up (five per cent) during the year ending December 2010 and nights up (eight per cent) though results for the December quarter 2010 showed a weakening in this category with trips up (two per cent), nights down (eight per cent) and expenditure down (17 per cent).
Latest reports can be downloaded from www.ret.gov.au/tra.