Australians holidaying domestically in record numbers

CANBERRA, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Australians are exploring domestic tourism hot-spots in record numbers and spending more nights away from home than ever before, according to statistics released by Tourism Research Australia (TRA).

On Wednesday, the TRA released details of its 2017 National Visitor Survey (NVS), which showed Australians were increasingly choosing to holiday locally, with Aussies spending a record 347 million nights away from home in the year ending September, 2017.

Commenting on the figures on Wednesday, Australia's Minister for Tourism, Steven Ciobo said not only had the number of nights spent away from home increased sharply, the average visitor spend had also risen.

"The National Visitor Survey (NVS)... reveals overnight trips by Australians grew by 7 percent to a record 96 million and the number of nights they stayed grew by 6 percent to a record 347 million during the year ending September 2017," Ciobo said.

"Spending by Australian tourists also soared, reaching a record 63.7 billion Australian dollars (48.8 billion U.S. dollars), up 7 percent on the previous year."

According to Ciobo, the domestic figures mirror the positive results of the International Visitor Survey (IVS), which was released by TRA earlier this month.

The IVS revealed a record 1.2 billion Australian dollars (920 million U.S. dollars) was spent by more than 8 million international visitors during the record 268 million nights they stayed in Australia during the year ending September 2017, the survey showed.

Combined, 104 million tourists spent almost 105 billion Australian dollars (80.47 billion U.S. dollars) during the 615 million nights they stayed in the past year.

"The record number of international visitors and Australians holidaying at home is great news for our tourism industry. It's a 100 billion-dollar gift to our economy and all the small businesses that rely on a thriving tourism industry," said the minister.

He added that, in "more good news," Australians were increasingly choosing to spend their down time in "the great outdoors."

"The (survey) shows Australians are getting outside more for their holidays," Ciobo said.

"I encourage all Australians to enjoy our beautiful country and holiday home -- that's what I'll be doing." Enditem