1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2009–10  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 04/06/2010   
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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.

During the year ended 31 December 2008, there were 136 million day visitors in Australia, by Australian residents aged 15 years and over, a decrease of 12.1 million day visitors from 148 million day visitors in 2007 (table 23.13).

23.13 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

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
2007
48 472
36 074
31 614
10 571
13 762
4 608
956
1 680
147 737
2008
44 262
34 592
28 558
9 571
12 140
4 170
940
1 410
135 642

(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: ABS Tourism Research Australia, 2009, Travel by Australians, December quarter 2008, Tourism Australia, Canberra.


In 2008, 52% of day trips were for holiday/leisure purposes, 29% were to visit friends and/or relatives and 10% were for business purposes (graph 23.14).

23.14 DAY VISITORS(a), By main purpose of visit - 2008
Graph: 23.14 DAY VISITORS(a), By main purpose of visit—2008


In 2008, New South Wales received the most day visitors (33%), followed by Victoria (26%) and Queensland (21%) (graph 23.15).

23.15 DAY VISITORS(a), By state/territory visited - 2008
Graph: 23.15 DAY VISITORS(a), By state/territory visited—2008



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 272 million nights away from home during 2008 (table 23.16), a decrease of 6% compared with 2007.
23.16 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

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
2007
83 176
53 244
77 069
19 107
32 684
10 219
7 159
5 844
288 603
2008
81 644
52 070
72 187
18 654
26 914
8 433
6 579
5 222
271 778

(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: ABS Tourism Research Australia, 2009, Travel by Australians, December quarter 2008, Tourism Australia, Canberra.


Overnight travellers who had holiday or leisure as their main purpose of visit accounted for the majority of domestic visitor nights in 2008 (49%), followed by those travelling to visit friends and/or relatives (31%) and for business purposes (15%) (graph 23.17).

23.17 VISITOR NIGHTS(a), By main purpose of visit - 2008
Graph: 23.17 VISITOR NIGHTS(a), By main purpose of visit—2008


In 2008, overnight visitors spent the highest proportion of nights in New South Wales (30%), followed by Queensland (27%) and Victoria (19%) (graph 23.18).

23.18 VISITOR NIGHTS(a), By state/territory visited - 2008
Graph: 23.18 VISITOR NIGHTS(a), By state/territory visited—2008





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