East coast reigns supreme as the favourite in domestic tourism

BRISBANE, Australia, Oct. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Recent research from Budget Direct Travel Insurance has revealed Australia's favourite destinations and habits when travelling domestically.

Melbourne takes the number one spot as Australia's favourite capital city to visit, closely followed by Brisbane and Sydney, respectively.

Restaurants and cafes were a major reason people loved to visit Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

When it came to Melbourne's popularity, shopping and art and culture were also major motivators.

The close proximity to beaches and the climate attracted visitors to Brisbane while for Sydney the tourist attractions and famous landmarks along with the beaches were major drawcards.

Darwin was at the bottom of the travel list with 27.34% of respondents saying it is the capital city they are least likely to visit.

Darwin's climate was the major factor that brought them down in popularity followed by the city being too hard to get to as reported by almost half of the participants.

In terms of the capital cities that people have visited, Sydney and Melbourne were the top responses at 65.15% and 64.36% respectively and Darwin was at the bottom again at just 16% reporting they have holidayed there.

Capital cities are not the only destination for Australians looking to travel domestically as shown by 62% of domestic visits in the year to June 2023 occurring outside of capital cities.

When it came to their spending habits, the majority of participants reported spending between $500-$1000 on their last domestic holiday closely followed by 27.54% who spent $1000-$2000.

Older Australians were more likely to spend more on their domestic holidays and take longer domestic holidays in comparison to younger Australians.

More than 40% of respondents have travelled domestically in the last six months indicating the continued popularity of domestic tourism in Australia.

For the full breakdown and further insights from the Budget Direct Domestic Travel Opinions Survey visit here.