ACT and Victoria lead the way for residents planning a holiday

As Australians are asked to travel within Australia to support our challenged domestic tourism market the latest results from Roy Morgan’s Holiday Travel Intention Report shows where the ‘would be’ domestic travellers are and what they had planned before the devastating bushfires and the new threat of the coronavirus emerged.

Nearly three-quarters of ACT residents (74.4%, 257,000) intend taking a holiday in the next twelve months followed by Victoria with 70.7% (3,869,000). These are the only two holding up the national average and well behind are residents of South Australia/Northern Territory on 64.4% (1,028,000), New South Wales on 64.2% (4,287,000), Queensland on 64.2% (2,670,000), Western Australia on 61.9% (1,322,000) and Tasmania on 60.5% (270,000).

These new travel intention findings have been drawn from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, Australia’s leading consumer survey, which is compiled by in-depth face-to-face interviews with over 50,000 Australians each year in their homes.

Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says there are significant challenges facing tourism operators, including decreasing domestic holiday intentions, shorter holiday times, sagging consumer confidence and concerns from overseas.

“There continues to be a decreasing proportion of Australians intending on taking a holiday in the twelve months ahead – now at 13.7 million (65.8%). This trend has been evident over the last few years and the decline in consumer confidence and the Australian Dollar, and of late, concerns surrounding the coronavirus in China look set to continue exerting downward pressure on holiday intentions.

“The concerns relating to overseas travel present an opportunity to Australian regions that have been hit by devastating bushfires, severe flooding and even cyclones in recent months. These natural disasters wreaked havoc on these areas during the busiest time of the year during the Summer holidays. There is no better time to consider a getaway within Australia than during 2020,”  Ms. Levine said.

Proportion of Australians (by State and Territory) intending on taking a holiday

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source Australia, January 2019 – December 2019, n=13,539. Base: Australians 14+.

If we view the proportions of residents in each State and Territory planning on taking long (3 or more nights) and/or short holidays (1-2 nights), the trend for most is that a greater number of residents intend on taking short holidays. The exception to this trend is found in the ACT and Western Australia, both of which have greater numbers of residents planning on long holidays.

“Another concern for travel and tourism operators is that there has also been a drop in the length of holidays compared to a year ago. The intended length of peoples’ next domestic holiday has declined from 4.02 days to 3.54 days, and from 19.78 days to 19.56 days for peoples’ next overseas holiday.

“The declining holiday length trend is especially evident for long holidays of 3 or more nights. When compared to twelve months ago, the number of days per long domestic trip has dropped from 11.27 days to 10.63 days, and from 21.47 days to 20.49 days for long overseas trips,”  Ms. Levine said.

Proportion of Australians (by State) intending on taking short and/or long holidays*

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source Australia, January 2019 – December 2019, n=13,539. Base: Australians 14+. *Long holidays are defined as 3 or more nights away while short holidays are defined as 1-2 nights away.

View the Holiday Travel Currency Report or the Roy Morgan Leading Indicator Report for Holiday Travel Intention.

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