Most Australians staying home for Easter

Nearly two-thirds of Australians will stay home this Easter, prompting warnings from the tourism sector.

A survey to be released by the Tourism and Transport Forum on Thursday reveals 64 per cent of Australians have decided not to go away this Easter. Picture: Evan Morgan

Nearly two-thirds of Australians will stay home this Easter, prompting warnings from the tourism sector that operators are being hit by a “triple whammy” of cost of living pressures, ongoing effects of the pandemic and uncertainty over when international visitation will return to normal.

A survey to be released by the Tourism and Transport Forum on Thursday reveals 64 per cent of Australians have decided not to go away this Easter and, of the 36 per cent who will, most are travelling within their own state.

More than half of the survey’s 1000 respondents, or 57 per cent, cited cost of living pressures as having affected their Easter travel plans, while 40 per cent said they couldn’t afford accommodation or travel expenses.

Just 7 per cent will head to another state or territory and 2 per cent plan to travel overseas.

While travel over Easter is expected to be subdued, the latest national visitor survey revealed the number of overnight domestic trips in January exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the first time since Covid-19 hit, as Australians went on holiday and visited family and friends.

January also represented the 12th consecutive month in which Australians spent more on domestic tourism than before the pandemic, forking out $11.9bn compared with $9.3bn in January 2020. There were 11 million overnight trips, an increase of 3 per cent compared with the same time three years ago.

Tourism Minister Don Farrell hailed the January figures, labelling it a “new milestone in the recovery of domestic tourism after some very difficult years”.

“It’s tremendous to see these numbers recovering after such a turbulent period. The Albanese government is focused on ensuring the tourism sector has the right conditions to keep growing,” he told The Australian.

“The Easter long weekend is a wonderful time for Australians to explore our regions and cities, and go interstate to visit family and friends. I encourage everyone to do exactly that.”

While TTF chief executive Margy Osmond acknowledged there’d been “fairly strong” domestic growth for the industry over the past year, she said cost of living issues were starting to bite and the absence of “substantial” international visitation meant operators were “now very vulnerable”.

International visitor numbers are still down by about one million people compared with pre-Covid levels in 2019.

“This is the most competitive tourism market the world has ever seen,” Ms Osmond said.

“Nobody should think it’s the time to cut back on marketing dollars for state and federal destination agencies. They actually need, in this next round of budgets, to have their money increased. We’re so dependent on getting those international visitors back.

“Things are improving but you’ve got to have the seats to put the bottoms on and you’ve also got to have content – there were a lot of offerings in the Australian market that didn’t survive Covid. It’s the moment for governments to focus more clearly on the industry than they have before.

“We’re not fixed, we’re a long way from being recovered.”

Asked in the TTF survey what cost-of-living pressures were having the greatest impact on Easter travel plans or activities, respondents rated grocery prices as no. 1, followed by petrol prices, energy bills and interest rates.

Regional Victoria was the most popular Australian destination for Easter, then Melbourne (9 per cent), Sydney and the Sunshine Coast (both 8 per cent) and the Gold Coast (7 per cent).

Nineteen per cent of respondents heading overseas were going to New Zealand and Europe, compared with 13 per cent travelling to the US, Thailand and Singapore respectively.