Aussies still flocking overseas

(AAP) - Australians continue to flock overseas for their holidays in ever-increasing numbers, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday.

In the 12 months to June, 6.8 million overseas trips were made by Australians, up
from 2.1 million two decades earlier.
That's the equivalent of 31 overseas trips for every 100 Australian residents in
2009-10.
The ABS says the unprecedented increase is due to a combination of factors including
more affordable travel and accommodation, partly due to the strength of the
Australian dollar, and increasing competition between airlines.
The increase in online marketing and the ease of gathering travel information and
making bookings on the internet has also helped.
In the year to June, holidays accounted for 82 per cent of overseas trips while
business made up 17 per cent.
The number of short-term trips has skyrocketed since 2003 with an annual increase
averaging 11 per cent compared to just four per cent in the 13 years before.
The hot spot is the Asia Pacific region, which has claimed 53 per cent of all
overseas holidays by Australians, with 2.9 million departures to South East Asia and
Oceana.
Top of the list is New Zealand, which attracted 1.1 million Aussies, followed by
Indonesia (including Bali), which in the past decade has overtaken the USA to claim
second-most popular destination.
Until 2008 short-term arrivals to Australia had always outstripped departures but in
the past two years the trend has reversed with over a million more departures than
arrivals.