1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2012  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 24/05/2012   
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Tourism

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 2010, there were 151 million day visitors in Australia (Australian residents aged 15 years and over), an increase of 5% from 144 million day visitors in 2009 (table 23.14).


23.14 DAY VISITORS(a), By state/territory visited
NSW
Vic.
Qld
SA
WA
Tas.
NT
ACT
Aust.(b)
'000
'000
'000
'000
'000
'000
'000
'000
'000
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
2009
46 546
37 877
31 575
9 848
11 558
4 496
1 026
1 467
144 393
2010
49 071
38 569
34 705
10 108
12 043
4 311
866
1 615
151 288
(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, 2011, Travel by Australians, December 2010 Quarterly Results of the National Visitor Survey.


In 2010, 49% of day trips were for holiday/leisure purposes, 29% were to visit friends and/or relatives and 10% were for business purposes (graph 23.15).

Graph: 23.15 Day visitors(a), By main purpose of visit - 2010



In 2010, New South Wales received the most day visitors (32%), followed by Victoria (26%) and Queensland (23%) (graph 23.16).

Graph: 23.16 Day visitors(a), By state/territory visited - 2010



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 260 million nights away from home during 2010 (table 23.17). This was an increase of 1% compared with 2009, but still a drop of 10% compared with the 289 million nights spent away from home during 2007.


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
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
2009
76 991
49 451
69 779
18 248
22 492
8 686
6 244
4 649
256 680
2010
78 330
49 406
71 208
16 989
23 597
8 148
6 273
5 574
259 541
(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, 2011, Travel by Australians, December 2010 Quarterly Results of the National Visitor Survey.


Overnight travellers who had holiday or leisure as their main purpose of visit accounted for the majority of domestic visitor nights in 2010 (49%), followed by those travelling to visit friends and/or relatives (30%) and for business purposes (15%) (graph 23.18).

Graph: 23.18 Visitor nights(a), By main purpose of visit - 2010



In 2010, overnight visitors spent the highest proportion of nights in New South Wales (30%), followed by Queensland (27%) and Victoria (19%) (graph 23.19).


Graph: 23.19 Visitor nights(a), By state/territory visited - 2010

 

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Statistics contained in the Year Book are the most recent available at the time of preparation. In many cases, the ABS website and the websites of other organisations provide access to more recent data. Each Year Book table or graph and the bibliography at the end of each chapter provides hyperlinks to the most up to date data release where available.