1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2008  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 07/02/2008   
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Contents >> Tourism >> Visitor travel in Australia

VISITOR TRAVEL IN AUSTRALIA

Day visitors

Day visitors are those who travel for a round trip distance of at least 50 kilometres, are away from home for at least four hours, and who do not spend a night away from home as part of their travel. Same-day travel as part of overnight travel is excluded, as is routine travel such as commuting between work/school and home.

In 2006, there were 134.5 million day trips taken in Australia by Australian residents aged 15 years and over, an increase of 4,344,000 day visitors from 130.1 million day trips in 2005 (table 23.14).

23.14 DAY VISITORS(a), By state/territory visited

Destination
NSW
Vic.
Qld
SA
WA
Tas.
NT
ACT
Aust.(b)
’000
’000
’000
’000
’000
’000
’000
’000
’000

2002
50 410
35 945
24 707
10 519
12 902
4 514
1 027
2 108
142 133
2003
44 988
36 499
27 250
10 546
12 135
4 705
1 049
1 888
139 060
2004
40 505
30 655
30 938
9 735
11 448
3 958
908
1 422
129 568
2005
41 782
31 604
28 497
9 707
12 079
4 117
904
1 428
130 120
2006
44 229
32 158
28 422
10 463
12 455
4 417
967
1 351
134 464

(a) Australian residents aged 15 years and over.
(b) Components may not add to total as total includes unspecified and offshore visits that could not be allocated to a state or territory.
Source: Tourism Research Australia, 2006, 'Travel by Australians', December quarter 2005, Tourism Australia, Canberra.


In 2006, 53% of day trips were for holiday/leisure purposes, 29% were to visit friends and/or relatives and 9% were for business purposes (graph 23.15).

23.15 Day visitors(a), by main purpose of visit - 2006
Graph: 23.15 Day visitors(a), by main purpose of visit—2006


In 2006, New South Wales received the most day visitors (33%), followed by Victoria (24%) and Queensland (21%) (graph 23.16).

23.16 Day visitors(a), by state/territory visited - 2006
Graph: 23.16 Day visitors(a), by state/territory visited—2006



Visitor nights

Domestic overnight travel involves a stay away from home for at least one night, at a place at least 40 kilometres from home. A person is an overnight visitor to a location if they stay one or more nights in the location while travelling.

Australians spent 285.7 million nights away from home during 2006 (table 23.17), an increase of 3.6% compared with 2005.

23.17 VISITOR NIGHTS(a), By state/territory visited

NSW
Vic.
Qld
SA
WA
Tas.
NT
ACT
Aust.(b)
’000
’000
’000
’000
’000
’000
’000
’000
’000

2002
93 269
56 684
76 342
20 424
29 748
8 775
7 518
5 382
298 658
2003
88 188
54 892
78 839
21 146
29 997
9 647
6 141
5 235
294 112
2004
89 179
54 872
78 196
21 680
31 002
10 263
6 522
5 107
296 877
2005
82 450
51 119
74 872
18 653
28 422
8 550
6 329
5 400
275 859
2006
86 197
53 452
75 210
19 075
29 671
9 434
6 877
5 612
285 661

(a) Australian residents aged 15 years and over.
(b) Total includes unspecified and offshore visits that could not be allocated to a state or territory.
Source: Tourism Research Australia, 2007, 'Travel by Australians', December quarter 2006, Tourism Australia, Canberra.


Overnight travellers who had holiday or leisure as their main purpose of visit accounted for the majority of domestic visitor nights (48%), followed by those travelling to visit friends and/or relatives (32%) and for business purposes (14%) (graph 23.18).

23.18 Visitor nights(a), by main purpose of visit - 2006
Graph: 23.18 Visitor nights(a), by main purpose of visit—2006


In 2006, overnight visitors spent the highest proportion of nights in New South Wales (30%), followed by Queensland (26%) and Victoria (19%) (graph 23.19).

23.19 VIisitor nights(a), by state/territory visited - 2006
Graph: 23.19 VIisitor nights(a), by state/territory visited—2006







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