Blue Mountains Posts

The results show visitor spending by Australians skyrocketed to a record $72.7 billion, an increase of 13 per cent, while Australians took a record 105.6 million domestic overnight trips during 2018, an increase of nine per cent.

Federal Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham said these results showed Australia’s tourism industry continued to go from strength-to-strength. “Tourism is booming across Australia with every state seeing strong increases in domestic visitor numbers as well as record spending,” Minister Birmingham said.

“The boom in domestic tourism is another vote of confidence in the Australian economy and has been accompanied by thriving international visitation of 8.5 million visitors to Australia last year.

“More Aussies holidaying at home teamed with more international visitors and record spending is a great boost for Australian businesses, helping to create more jobs and contributing to a stronger economy.

“Our Liberal National Government plan to create a further 1.25 million jobs is underpinned by investment in strategic areas of economic growth, such as our tourism industry that we are supporting with record investment in infrastructure and marketing.

“Australians are continuing to head off the beaten track, preferring to turn to nature and the great outdoors for their holidays. Trips involving nature-based activities and visits to national parks continued to grow at a faster rate than visits to the beach.

“Eco-tourism is on the rise in Australia, and it’s not surprising given our world-class national parks, unique wildlife and diversity of nature-based experiences on offer.”

Minister Birmingham said these results coincided with the release of a new Tourism Australia video to help attract more working holiday makers to Australia.

“Working holiday makers have a tendency to holiday in regional areas and inject over $3 billion into our economy each year,” Minister Birmingham said.

“The more working holiday makers we can attract to Australia, the more we can support our farmers and boost regional tourism.

“They help fill short-term workforce shortages and they basically spend every dollar they earn while in Australia, plus the savings they brought here, boosting regional economies and creating more jobs for Australians.

“This new campaign video will run through the United Kingdom, France and Germany and will help promote Australia as a top destination for working holiday makers.

“We’re experiencing a real purple patch when it comes to tourism and that’s why the Liberal-National Government continues to deliver record funding to Tourism Australia for cutting-edge campaigns such as this one so we can continue growing this booming industry.”