Do Queensland’s travel figures tell the truth?
Queensland’s Geographics Skew its Travel Figures
There’s a government body out there that tracks our travel and accommodation trends. It’s Tourism Research Australia under the Australian Government Austrade.
Anyway, they’ve just released the latest National Visitor Survey (NVS) Results for the year ending March 2019. This survey, which commenced in 1998, provides an ‘official measure of travel by Australian residents’.
Interestingly, they state that the NVS is conducted throughout the year via a telephone (100% mobile numbers for the first time in 2019) interview focusing on respondents who are over 15 years of age, lived at their contact address for at least three months and live in a private dwelling.
Specifically, the data is drawn from the following recall periods – overseas trips in the previous three months, overnight trips in the previous four weeks and day trips in the previous seven days.
The following definitions are provided:
- ‘overnight trips must include at least one night away from home’ and be a minimum of 40 kilometres from the respondent’s usual place of residence’; and
- ‘day trips must have a round trip distance of at least 50 kilometres from the respondent’s usual place of residence and a minimum duration of four hours’.
Who camped – Year Ending March 2019 Data
For the purposes of this website (www.campandtravel.com.au), it is interesting to note that 33.2M nights were reportedly had in a Caravan Park or Camping Ground PLUS a further 21.3M nights had at a Caravan or Camping – Non Commercial.
This 54.5M nights caravanning and camping (and possibly cabins) represents 14% of the total 383M nights away from home across Australia. This is a third to the number of nights spent at Friends and Relatives (136.5M nights) and nights at a Hotel, Resort, Motel or Motor Inn (96.9M nights). Of note is the number of nights spent at a Guest House or B&B (just a relatively small 4M nights).
Of the domestic overnight trips, 33% were undertaken by travel parties who were travelling alone, 25% were travelling as part of an adult couple, 35% as a family group and 6% were travelling as business associates. That’s 93% travelling as an individual, couple or family.
But, the TRA notes that business travellers spend more because of the accommodation types they choose and their expenses such as car hire etc.
Let’s Look at Queensland
Australia has a resident population of 25.4M people (abs.gov.au, 20 July 2019).
Queensland is a big hit with tourists, but the world is on offer.
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Queensland has a population of 5.1M people (qgso.qld.go.au, 20 July 2019).
The south east region of Queensland (Brisbane, Gold Coast, Ipswich, Lockyer Valley, Logan, Moreton Bay, Redland, Scenic Rim and Somerset regions) had a population
of approximately 3.1M (statistics.qgso.qld.gov.au by a customised report excluding the Sunshine Coast for this conversation).
That’s 12% of the national population living in Queensland’s south east corner.
Now, when 12% of us Queenslanders (excluding those in the western Queensland who live near the border) live just 100km (approximately) from the border with New South Wales – and all the wonderful sites and destination on offer there, is it any wonder that we wander into New South Wales when we take a drive for the day or on holidays.
Where are we travelling to in Australia
The Courier Mail (20 July 2019, Qld feeling blue over travel trend) reported on this alarming (my words) trend when it reported the TRA figures as ‘Queenslander travellers are flocking across the border in record numbers…’ (emphasis added).
The Courier Mail reports
The Courier Mail also reported that there were ‘6.2M trips to NSW by Queenslanders in the year to March 31…’.
I am unable to find the actual data on the TRA website that support these statements, but I do note the other comment by The Courier Mail when it reported that 1.7M Queenslanders visited Sydney while 1.8M New South Welshies visited Brisbane. To me, that sounds like a fair deal – we (QLD) get more from them (NSW).
Is it any wonder that the other states don’t experience the same interstate travel numbers as Queensland. If you travel 100 kms from Sydney, you’d get to Wollongong or just past Gosford. Similarly, if you travelled 100km from Melbourne, you’d get to Seymour (still 160km to the Murray River). Adelaide is in the same boat – and, don’t even start on Perth, Darwin or Hobart. However, I do concede to interstate/territory travel by those living in Canberra.
Aussies Love travelling to Queensland
So, let’s not fret crossing the border into New South Wales, or any other state, and let’s focus on getting Out&About and enjoying all that Australia has to offer. Perhaps, we could embrace our northern-NSW neighbours and edumacate (educate) them on what we have just over their border too – but don’t let them bring their rabbits.
Are caravanning and camping still popular in Australia
For the purposes of this website (www.campandtravel.com.au), it is interesting to note that 33.2M nights were reportedly had in a Caravan Park or Camping Ground PLUS a further 21.3M nights had at a Caravan or Camping – Non Commercial.
This 54.5M nights caravanning and camping (and possibly cabins) represents 14% of the total 383M nights away from home across Australia. This is a third to the number of nights spent at Friends and Relatives (136.5M nights) and nights at a Hotel, Resort, Motel or Motor Inn (96.9M nights). Of note is the number of nights spent at a Guest House or B&B (just a relatively small 4M nights).
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