VISITOR TRAVEL IN AUSTRALIA
Day visitors
Day visitors are those who travel for a round trip distance of at least 50 kilometres, are away from home for at least four hours, and who do not spend a night away from home as part of their travel. Same-day travel as part of overnight travel is excluded, as is routine travel such as commuting between work/school and home.
In 2006, there were 134.5 million day trips taken in Australia by Australian residents aged 15 years and over, an increase of 4,344,000 day visitors from 130.1 million day trips in 2005 (table 23.14).
23.14 DAY VISITORS(a), By state/territory visited |
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![](/icons/ecblank.gif) | Destination | ![](/icons/ecblank.gif) | ![](/icons/ecblank.gif) |
![](/icons/ecblank.gif) | NSW | Vic. | Qld | SA | WA | Tas. | NT | ACT | Aust.(b) | ![](/icons/ecblank.gif) |
![](/icons/ecblank.gif) | ’000 | ’000 | ’000 | ’000 | ’000 | ’000 | ’000 | ’000 | ’000 | ![](/icons/ecblank.gif) |
| ![](/icons/ecblank.gif) |
2002 | 50 410 | 35 945 | 24 707 | 10 519 | 12 902 | 4 514 | 1 027 | 2 108 | 142 133 | ![](/icons/ecblank.gif) |
2003 | 44 988 | 36 499 | 27 250 | 10 546 | 12 135 | 4 705 | 1 049 | 1 888 | 139 060 | ![](/icons/ecblank.gif) |
2004 | 40 505 | 30 655 | 30 938 | 9 735 | 11 448 | 3 958 | 908 | 1 422 | 129 568 | ![](/icons/ecblank.gif) |
2005 | 41 782 | 31 604 | 28 497 | 9 707 | 12 079 | 4 117 | 904 | 1 428 | 130 120 | ![](/icons/ecblank.gif) |
2006 | 44 229 | 32 158 | 28 422 | 10 463 | 12 455 | 4 417 | 967 | 1 351 | 134 464 | ![](/icons/ecblank.gif) |
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(a) Australian residents aged 15 years and over. |
(b) Components may not add to total as total includes unspecified and offshore visits that could not be allocated to a state or territory. |
Source: Tourism Research Australia, 2006, 'Travel by Australians', December quarter 2005, Tourism Australia, Canberra. |
In 2006, 53% of day trips were for holiday/leisure purposes, 29% were to visit friends and/or relatives and 9% were for business purposes (graph 23.15).
23.15 Day visitors(a), by main purpose of visit
- 2006
![Graph: 23.15 Day visitors(a), by main purpose of visit—2006](/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/bb8db737e2af84b8ca2571780015701e/8ce082cd415c1cf9ca2573d20010b760/Body/0.2774!OpenElement&FieldElemFormat=gif)
In 2006, New South Wales received the most day visitors (33%), followed by Victoria (24%) and Queensland (21%) (graph 23.16).
23.16 Day visitors(a), by state/territory visited
- 2006
![Graph: 23.16 Day visitors(a), by state/territory visited—2006](/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/bb8db737e2af84b8ca2571780015701e/8ce082cd415c1cf9ca2573d20010b760/Body/0.32DC!OpenElement&FieldElemFormat=gif)
Visitor nights
Domestic overnight travel involves a stay away from home for at least one night, at a place at least 40 kilometres from home. A person is an overnight visitor to a location if they stay one or more nights in the location while travelling.
Australians spent 285.7 million nights away from home during 2006 (table 23.17), an increase of 3.6% compared with 2005.
23.17 VISITOR NIGHTS(a), By state/territory visited |
| ![](/icons/ecblank.gif) |
![](/icons/ecblank.gif) | NSW | Vic. | Qld | SA | WA | Tas. | NT | ACT | Aust.(b) | ![](/icons/ecblank.gif) |
![](/icons/ecblank.gif) | ’000 | ’000 | ’000 | ’000 | ’000 | ’000 | ’000 | ’000 | ’000 | ![](/icons/ecblank.gif) |
| ![](/icons/ecblank.gif) |
2002 | 93 269 | 56 684 | 76 342 | 20 424 | 29 748 | 8 775 | 7 518 | 5 382 | 298 658 | ![](/icons/ecblank.gif) |
2003 | 88 188 | 54 892 | 78 839 | 21 146 | 29 997 | 9 647 | 6 141 | 5 235 | 294 112 | ![](/icons/ecblank.gif) |
2004 | 89 179 | 54 872 | 78 196 | 21 680 | 31 002 | 10 263 | 6 522 | 5 107 | 296 877 | ![](/icons/ecblank.gif) |
2005 | 82 450 | 51 119 | 74 872 | 18 653 | 28 422 | 8 550 | 6 329 | 5 400 | 275 859 | ![](/icons/ecblank.gif) |
2006 | 86 197 | 53 452 | 75 210 | 19 075 | 29 671 | 9 434 | 6 877 | 5 612 | 285 661 | ![](/icons/ecblank.gif) |
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(a) Australian residents aged 15 years and over. |
(b) Total includes unspecified and offshore visits that could not be allocated to a state or territory. |
Source: Tourism Research Australia, 2007, 'Travel by Australians', December quarter 2006, Tourism Australia, Canberra. |
Overnight travellers who had holiday or leisure as their main purpose of visit accounted for the majority of domestic visitor nights (48%), followed by those travelling to visit friends and/or relatives (32%) and for business purposes (14%) (graph 23.18).
23.18 Visitor nights(a), by main purpose of visit
- 2006
![Graph: 23.18 Visitor nights(a), by main purpose of visit—2006](/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/bb8db737e2af84b8ca2571780015701e/8ce082cd415c1cf9ca2573d20010b760/Body/0.6060!OpenElement&FieldElemFormat=gif)
In 2006, overnight visitors spent the highest proportion of nights in New South Wales (30%), followed by Queensland (26%) and Victoria (19%) (graph 23.19).
23.19 VIisitor nights(a), by state/territory visited
- 2006
![Graph: 23.19 VIisitor nights(a), by state/territory visited—2006](/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/bb8db737e2af84b8ca2571780015701e/8ce082cd415c1cf9ca2573d20010b760/Body/0.6C76!OpenElement&FieldElemFormat=gif)