Australians are spending $1 billion a week on travel ... and the fastest growing destination is the ACT

AUSSIES are spending $1 billion a week on local holidays. And the fastest growing destination? Well, it’s no beach paradise...

The ACT has recorded double-digit growth in tourism spending.

IT’S Australia’s fastest-growing destination - and there’s not a beach or theme park in sight.

Canberra is attracting an increasing number of Aussie visitors - and in 2013 the ACT recorded the nation’s largest growth in domestic travel spending.

The nation’s capital received a 13 per cent rise in domestic visitor spending to $1.17 billion a year.

New figures reveal Australians are spending about $1 billion a week on domestic travel, driving a recovery in the country’s tourism industry.

Domestic tourists shelled out a total of $51.5 billion on holiday and leisure trips, visiting friends and relatives, and business trips in 2013, according to Tourism Research Australia’s National Visitor Survey.

NSW recorded the second-biggest growth spike after the ACT, recording an 8 per cent rise to $15.1 billion, Tasmania, where spending rose by 7 per cent and Western Australia, which recorded 4 per cent growth.

One of the country’s traditional tourism powerhouses, Queensland, saw mixed results as the impact of a string of natural disasters took its toll, according to the state’s tourism minister, Jann Stuckey.

Although tourism spending in the Sunshine State was up 2 per cent to $13.5 billion, but the number of overnight trips declined 2 per cent.

“Queensland continues to see strong growth from the important New South Wales market with around 1.7 million Sydneysiders visiting the state in 2013, boosted by a 13 per cent increase in holiday travel,” Ms Stuckey said.

“At a regional level Townsville, the Whitsundays and Brisbane were the standouts with visitor spending increasing 21, 18 and 7 per cent respectively.”

Tourism and Transport Forum chief Ken Morrison says Australians still choose to travel at home.

Overall, there was a bigger jump in interstate than intrastate trips.

Declines in domestic tourism spending were seen in Victoria (down 2 per cent) and in the Northern Territory, which was down a whopping 14 per cent as visitors turned away from the Top End. In South Australia spending remained steady.

Nationally, spending was up 3 per cent.

Overnight trips — the number of visitors who stay at least one night in a destination — also jumped 1.8 per cent.

“Australians took 75.8 million overnight trips in the year ending December 2013, spending 282.7 million nights away from home, of which 47 per cent were for holiday travel,” Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive Ken Morrison said.

“Australia is competing in a very crowded market with other countries aggressively marketing their respective international destinations.

“These results show that despite fierce competition, Australians are still choosing to travel at home.”

Source: Tourism Research Australia