When we’re not riding a body board (or a body bag!) all the way to a twenty year sentence or a stack of pay-out cash, Australians are among the world’s greatest travellers. Today’s Herald contains a report that cites research showing that Australians are staying overseas longer, spending more of their hard earned cash monies and returning overseas with a frequency higher than the rest of the world’s long haul travellers. And we’re dominating them in strawpedo contests while we’re at it! Kudos us!
Here are some facts and figures courtesy of our ABS – not the chosen fanny pack of finely toned abdominal muscles favoured by Australian tourists everywhere, especially in Kuta, but the Australian Bureau of Statistics:
FACT: In 2011-2012, Australians made a record breaking 8 million short term trips overseas, compared to 2001-2002’s 3 million. For these brief sojourns of eating, praying and lurving, Australians favour our woolly Bingle-friendly bros New Zealand; our favoured Bintang singlet providores Indonesia (surprise!); our cartographically challenged cousins, the U.S. Americans; our fully-mooned muay thai’ers, Thailand; and the dentally-challenged Brits.
MAYBE FACT: You can thank the federal government’s ‘Open Sky’ policy for this, as it allows convenient and cheaper one-stop flights to said destinations, meaning less lay-overs and more lei-overs. Ha ha, amirite or amirite!?
ALSO A FACT: The number of Australian passports issued between 2001 and 2012 has almost doubled from 981,409 to 1,747,670. That’s almost 8000 passports printed five days a week, meaning as much as half the population now have an unflattering photo of themselves sandwiched between holographic pieces of paper.
DO THE LOCOMOTION: Rail Europe has already sold more than $40 million worth of train tickets to Australians this year. What is it about international rail travel that is so much more preferable and efficient when compared to, I don’t know, Australia’s entire rail network? Everything is the answer, I think. Oh yeah, and it’s exactly like this:
PARLEZ-VOUS FRANÇAIS? UH, YEP: Australia is Britain’s second-ranked tourism market. Plus, twice as many Australians are going to France than they were a decade ago (500K) and we’re in the top eight countries to visit the US with an increase from 276,000 to 820,000 visitors in the last decade. If only they could find their way back to us.
GET MONEY: Australian tourist spending in The States has increased 94% in the seven years between 2004 and 2011, from $2554 million to $4963 million. Whatever that number is? You can thank me for that one, Barack O’Barneys.
Did all that give you a travel-induced aero-boner? Do you love railing on trains through the Alps? Can you translate the number $4963 million better than I can? Of course you can. That last one isn’t very hard. If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above, then you might want to consider applying to be Pedestrian’s Travel Editor.
All the information you could ever need is here. Applications close September 25th (that’s two days away!) Go forth, Australia!
Photo taken from Kieran Darcy Smith’s excellent Australian film about some not-so-excellent Australian tourists, Wish You Were Here.
