Australia’s peak tourism, accommodation and caravan industry bodies are calling for a single national platform showing real-time fuel prices and availability, warning current uncertainty is hurting regional drive holidays and discouraging families from hitting the road.
The Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF), Accommodation Australia (AA) and the Caravan Industry Association of Australia (CIAA) have jointly urged governments to fast-track a national fuel information system to address Australia’s fragmented state-by-state pricing landscape.
The groups say a centralised platform would make it easier for motorists to plan longer journeys, particularly across state borders, while giving travellers confidence about where fuel is available and what it costs.
TTF CEO Margy Osmond said the lack of clear and consistent information was already taking a toll on regional tourism operators and communities reliant on self-drive visitors.
“Growing uncertainty around fuel availability is strangling regional drive holidays and impacting hugely on the businesses and communities that support the sector,” she said.
“We would like to see the immediate establishment of a working group made up of the states, territories and industry players in the tourism and automobile sectors to deliver this outcome urgently.
“It has the added benefit of being a great legacy item to support regional tourism and drive holidays beyond this current crisis.”
Osmond said while some jurisdictions had already made progress, the national picture remained too inconsistent.
“States like NSW already offer great, user-friendly products, but with each state providing its own apps with varying levels of usability, there is a clear need for a single, nationally consistent platform.
“This platform should be widely promoted to the driving public and provide real-time information on fuel availability and pricing across all regions. It would allow travellers to know where petrol is available and at what price throughout their journey anywhere in the country.
“Many travellers from international visitors to ‘grey nomads’ are responding to fuel uncertainty by cancelling or just not booking drive holidays.”
Call for single, nationwide platform
Accommodation Australia CEO James Goodwin said the current system was especially confusing for people travelling interstate.
“Road-trips are one of the great Aussie traditions,” he said. “We would like to see a single, nationwide platform that makes it as easy as possible for people to get out on the road and explore our great regional areas.
“This initiative would give motorists a single, trusted source of truth, delivering seamless and reliable information across state borders. It also would improve confidence in road travel, particularly in remote areas where fuel data can be limited or difficult to access.
“The tourism industry remains a critical national asset, but this is particularly so for regional Australia, where road travel is a key driver of visitation and economic activity”.
CIAA CEO Stuart Lamont said the proposed platform would combine fuel pricing and availability data with route-planning tools.
“The proposed app would provide a single, easy-to-use platform for real-time fuel prices, availability, fuel price cycle insights and route-based trip planning, helping drivers make more informed and cost and fuel effective decisions.
“We are proposing the government adopt a free, publicly accessible, national fuel information website and mobile application that brings together fuel price and supply data from all Australian states and territories into one place.
“Rather than replacing existing systems, the platform would integrate current state-based data into a single and consistent national system, that would provide drivers with clearer and more reliable information.”
According to the groups, tourism contributed $192.4 billion in total expenditure in the year ending December 2025 and supported more than 737,000 jobs nationwide. They argue better fuel transparency would help sustain that growth by making regional travel planning easier, cheaper and more predictable.
