Aussies loving a holiday at home

Australians are loving a holiday at home and are voting with their wallets with spending by domestic tourists hitting an all-time high of $59.8 billion in the last year.

Today I release the National Visitor Survey which shows an increase in the number of domestic tourists visiting every state and territory in Australia.

This record spending by local tourists is an early Christmas present for Australian tourism businesses and the hundreds of thousands of Australians they employ directly. Australians who holiday at home put money straight into the back pockets of local tourism workers.

Australians took 66.6 million trips in the last year for a holiday or to visit friends and relatives, which is more than three trips per year per person. Australians are also taking longer trips away, with the average trip growing five per cent over the last three years to 3.7 nights.

As we head into the Christmas holiday season, I encourage Australians to even up the work/life ledger and take a holiday at home.

In 2013 the Coalition returned responsibility for domestic tourism marketing to the states and territories to refocus Tourism Australia on our offshore marketing capacity. I congratulate the state and territory tourism organisations on their success in the last 12 months.