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 AM MP noted positive growth in the March 2010 quarter for visitor expenditure and day trip visitors, and a recovery in business travel.
“Domestic tourism is the industry’s bread and butter, it accounts for almost three quarters of Australia’s tourism consumption so it is encouraging to see continuing solid performance,” Minister Ferguson said.
“A 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.
“The strong Australian dollar, increasing airline competition, and the lure of nearby international destinations present ongoing challenges to our domestic industry.
“Industry 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 Rudd Government is supporting the industry to meet these challenges head on through two important campaigns - No Leave No Life, which has been delivering some good results by encouraging Australian workers to use their accumulated leave and now the next phase of There’s Nothing Like Australia, which includes a schedule of domestic marketing activity which commenced earlier this month.
“Tourism Australia’s new interactive travel planning site showcasing almost 30,000 images and stories from everyday Australians not only appeals to our international markets but reminds all Australians about the pleasure of holidaying in our own back yard.”
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.
“For the first time, we are backing the TQUAL Mark with the marketing power of Tourism Australia,” Minister Ferguson said.
“Accreditation 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 four percent to $11.5 billion and day trip visitors increased by eight percent. Victoria (up four percent), Tasmania (up eight percent), Northern Territory (up three percent) and the ACT (up 32 percent) all experienced a strong March quarter in terms of visitor nights. While New South Wales (down one percent), South Australia (down 12 percent) and Western Australia (down eight percent) experienced declines and Queensland visitor nights remained steady for the quarter.
For the twelve months to March 2010, visitor nights declined nationally by one percent, overnight trips were down three percent, and visitor expenditure remained steady at $42.9 billion while day trip visitors increased nine percent to 147.5 million day trips.
The complete results from the National Visitor Survey can be downloaded from www.ret.gov.au/tra.