Travellers prefer big city escapes

By Hannah Edensor

It makes sense that travellers want to escape their own city to feel like they’re on holidays, right?

But it turns out Aussies are forgoing the option to escape just outside of their home town and opting to go interstate instead.

The latest travel data from Roy Morgan Research shows that escaping the big smokes is on few agendas, and that people want to explore other big cities outside of their own.

And while a large chunk of the top holiday destination for urbanites are regions nearby—places where you can leave after work on a Friday and drive back Sunday afternoon, even city-dwellers sometimes want to enjoy another city on holidays.

“The regions surrounding the major metro areas need to understand what city-dwellers want in a destination and how they decide where to go,” Roy Morgan’s group account director Angela Smith said.

“Perhaps the challenge for regions near Adelaide and Hobart however may be that their target ‘city’ residents are often actually looking for more of a full city experience, not less, on their breaks.”

Sydney and Melbourne, in fact, are each among the top five domestic travel destinations for all capital city residents around the country—and in some cases are actually more popular than areas only a short drive away.

Over the past year, more Sydneysiders took a trip to Melbourne than visited the Hunter Valley, South Coast or Central Coast. Only the North Coast hosted more holidaying Sydneysiders, taking the number one slot.

Conversely, Melburnians were more likely to head to Sydney than Gippsland, Wilsons Prom or Phillip Island, as well as other Victorian destinations just outside the top five including the Goldfields, High Country, and Upper Murray regions.

The top two spots for Brisbanites are either a little north (Sunshine Coast) or a little south (Gold Coast), however out-of-state destinations make up the rest of the top five: Sydney, the Far North Coast of NSW, and Melbourne.

Most visited domestic holiday destinations by capital city

Melbourne was the top destination for people taking a trip out of Adelaide or Hobart—ahead of anywhere in the home state. Yet another city, Brisbane, is the fifth most-visited domestic holiday destination from Hobart.

Being further away, it makes sense that Perth’s top three destinations are all local—but Melbourne and Sydney again round out the top five, ahead of other popular Western Australia holiday spots including Geraldton, Ningaloo and Exmouth.

Overall, Melbourne is once again the top domestic destination, with one in 10 Australians aged 14 and over visiting in the past year, ahead of Sydney (8.4%), the Gold Coast (6.5%) and Brisbane (5.3%).

“Near every capital city are a variety of holiday destinations that residents can easily get to by a short drive,” Roy Morgan’s group account director Angela Smith said.

“These areas benefit from the incoming tourism dollars of nearby urbanites, but are often in direct competition with equivalent local options: Sydneysiders needing a quick break choose between the NSW North, South and Central Coasts; Melburnians can head down the Great Ocean Road or Mornington Peninsula; Brisbanites can head either north or south to reach the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast.”

“It’s clear Australia is a nation of metropolitans. Most of us live in cities, and they are also the most-visited destinations.”

“Melbourne has now been the nation’s most popular domestic holiday destination for nine consecutive years. Over 1.9 million Australians stayed at least one night in Melbourne during the past year.”

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