Why taking a holiday is good for the Australian economy
A new report has revealed that more than a quarter of paid workers nationwide have at least four weeks of annual leave just sitting there, waiting to be used.
Roy Morgan’s Holiday Travel Currency Report revealed these statistics, and the chief executive Michele Levine says that it presents a unique opportunity to boost Australia’s slow economy.
“With the Australian economy showing signs of slowing, the potential boost that would come from people taking their accrued leave would be considerable. This would particularly be the case if Australians were encouraged to holiday in Australia,” she said to The New Daily.
“Particularly with Australia’s 10.9 million paid workforce currently owed an average of more than 12 days’ annual leave, this not only would be good for them to have some relaxation but could also boost the economy.”
Australian Tourism Industry chair Evan Hall was enthusiastic about this potential annual leave usage.
He told The New Daily that domestic tourism is the “backbone” of the Australian wide $130 billion tourism industry.
“Australians love to travel within Australia, especially when the dollar’s low,” he said.
“In particular, far more so than with international tourism, domestic travellers really benefit regional areas,” Mr Hall said.
“A lot of those smaller towns are really dependent on that travel.”
Hall has also noticed the decline in longer trips.
“We still get the grey nomads, who will travel for months at a time, but for the most part people are doing those three- to four-day trips instead,” Mr Hall said.
“Not as many of us are doing the big two- or three-week drive any more. I guess it’s sometimes harder for people to get those two or three weeks off.”