Global Financial Crisis Provides Boost for Local Tour Operators

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) November 24, 2008 -- From: Elia Tours, 6/165 Sydney St, New Farm, QLD 4005
Contact: Danielle Cullen, +61(0)488 070 405, danni@eliatours.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS PROVIDES UNEXPECTED BOOST FOR LOCAL TOUR OPERATORS

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA, November 24, 2008 – Australians appear to be looking locally for holidays and adventure. According to a recent survey into the effects of the global financial crisis on tourism 79% of Australians will take the same amount or more leisure trips within Australia in the next 12 months, while 43% will take fewer trips overseas.

This is good news for local tour operators but it does come with a down side with almost half of respondents indicating that they will spend less per person on their Australian trips than they had done previously.

“As soon as talk of an economic crisis started, we had more enquiries than ever,” says Danielle Cullen, Managing Director of Elia Tours, a Brisbane-based adventure tour company. “However, there was one key difference in that most of the interest in our tours was coming from locals rather than overseas groups. We decided to conduct a survey to find out why.”

The survey unveiled some interesting insights. The main reasons given for taking trips within Australia were ‘Exploring new places’ and ‘Adventure’ proving that the stereotype of families returning to the same campsite year after year may not be quite so accurate any more.

The trend of Australians exploring Australia is set to continue. On 26 November, the movie Australia starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman is released across the country and is expected to generate a high demand for local travel by Australians, even to areas not featured in the movie.

“The movie really makes you appreciate the beauty and diversity of Australia,” says Cullen, “and Australians are starting to realise that you don’t have to travel too far to really get away from it all. On our trail riding weekends we cover 60km on horseback and it’s quite unusual if we see anyone else the whole weekend.”

The survey also showed that Australians were more confident at arranging their own local trips with 92% of respondents indicating that they book their Australian trips online, whereas only 64% of overseas trips were booked this way.

“People seem to be actively looking for good value, local trips now that the weakness of the Australian dollar has made overseas travel less appealing.”

It’s an unexpected boost for those in the tourism industry who have struggled in recent years competing with cheap overseas destinations in Asia. “Even in the current economic situation people still realise the value of getting away from it all, even if it’s just for a weekend,” says Cullen. “It’s going to be interesting to observe how these trends develop over the next year.”

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