Summary:
- In 2017, over 4.25 million Australians indicated they would like to visit Melbourne, down slightly from the 4.5 million Australians who nominated Melbourne in 2015;
- Hobart has experienced the fastest growth of any capital city and is now in third place for domestic holiday-goers with 1.75 million prospective visitors;
Sydney is again comfortably in second position with just under 2.4 million would-be visitors in 2017 down slightly from 2.5 million in 2015 while it is Australia's smaller capital cities that have experienced the largest growth over the last two years.
Hobart has experienced the fastest growth of any capital city and is now in third place for domestic holiday-goers with 1.75 million prospective visitors, up an impressive 8.7% from 1.6 million in 2015 and now ahead of Brisbane which is virtually unchanged over the last two years on 1.7 million. South Australian capital city Adelaide has experienced the fastest growth of any mainland capital city over the past two years up to 1.3 million from under 1.25 million two years ago - growth of 6.7% since 2015.
Capital cities Aussies would like to visit on holiday: 2015 vs 2017
Source: Roy Morgan Research
Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine said:
"Melbourne has again confirmed its reputation as Australia's most sought-after capital city travel destination for domestic travellers with over 4.25 million Australians expressing a desire to visit Australia's most liveable city in the next two years.
Although this was down slightly on two years ago, it was enough for Melbourne to be almost 1.9 million potential visitors ahead of Sydney in second place. However, the big improvers in recent years have been Australia's second tier cities of Hobart, Canberra and Adelaide which have all grown strongly on the Roy Morgan Holiday Tracking Survey since 2015.
The increasing allure of Hobart is demonstrated by the fact Hobart was the only capital city to experience growth in all three key Generations in the past two years - Generation Y, Generation X and the Baby Boomers and overtaking Brisbane is remarkable when one considers the respective populations of the two cities - Hobart (225,000) is less than a tenth the size of Brisbane (2.36 million).
In contrast to the cities already mentioned, the continued decline of Perth as a desired holiday destination in recent years has continued although that decline has showed. Only a few years ago Perth was regarded as Australia's third-most desired capital city destination however as we end 2017 Perth finds itself down in sixth position with Adelaide closing fast.
The changed fortunes of Perth as a holiday destination post mining-boom illustrate the importance for the local tourism authorities having a keen understanding of the how a destination is faring in the minds of potential visitors."