Frailties in domestic: TRA

a neW report tabled by Tourism Research Australia (TRA) has laid bare the challenges of making a full tourism recovery without international tourists, revealing the disparate spending patterns with domestic travellers.

The document found that despite an uptake in domestic tourism during the COVID period, the average domestic overnight trip is less than four nights and average spend is under $700, in contrast to an average 18-night trip for international tourists, whose spend is around $6,500.

Domestic trips are also concentrated on weekends, with spikes in demand around long weekends and school holiday periods, whereas international visitors are typically more evenly spread, and would provide more important support to tourism businesses - particularly during non-peak periods.

Looking forward, the report suggested the biggest challenges facing the introduction of quarantine-free travel included the logistics around air travel such as vaccine passports, vaccination rates, achieving herd immunity, and vaccine effectiveness against new variants of the virus.

Travel agents and tour operators were also listed among the most vulnerable business segments during the border closure.