The Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson AM MP said the latest report by Tourism Research Australia, 'Travel by Australians', indicates that domestic tourism is holding up in the face of significant challenges such as record petrol prices and an historically high dollar.
Report findings show that total domestic tourism spending for the year to June 2008 rose by $1.8 billion to $58.8 billion, an increase of 3 per cent on the previous year, despite a fall in the number of trips (down 2 per cent) and nights away (down 3 per cent).
Overall, total tourism consumption (domestic and international) increased by 4 per cent to $88.7 billion for the year to June 2008.
Minister Ferguson said: "These are mixed figures for the tourism industry.
"The past year has been a difficult one for Australian tourism with a range of factors such as the high Australian dollar and record fuel prices affecting the competitiveness of domestic tourism.
"That is why the Australian Government has taken a number of policy initiatives to help improve the long-term competitiveness of Australian tourism.
"Those initiatives include the introduction of tNational Long-Term Tourism Strategy and the National Tourism Accreditation Scheme.
"The National Long-Term Tourism Strategy is designed to address the supply side issues facing the industry, and to improve the attractiveness of Australia as a destination.
"The National Tourism Accreditation Scheme will raise the quality of the tourism products and services that are offered and has the potential to deliver real benefits to businesses that participate in the scheme. It will also provide greater consumer confidence. By being a voluntary system, those businesses that choose to become accredited will have a natural marketing advantage over those that do not."
For further information on the 'Travel by Australians' report visit www.tourism.australia.com.