Australians prefer local travel over road-tripping interstate
Find out which state is the most adventurous and which is less likely to take a road trip.
Life in the "Lucky Country" comes with many benefits. One big one is that we are blessed with more than our fair share of natural wonders and it seems that when it comes to where to travel to, we're most likely to stay put to explore.
Recent research by car rental giant Avis revealed that Aussies prefer the comfort of their own state-bound backyard instead of exploring further afield. In fact, a whopping 11 million Australian travellers (58%) chose to travel within their own state in the last year.
A classic Aussie road trip seems like a right of passage, whether it be a family trip to the coast over the school holidays or a grand country-wide caravan trip post-retirement. So it's no big surprise that 32% of Aussies have been on at least one in the last year.
In saying that, Avis also discovered that 1 in 5 Australians are yet to catch the travel bug, with over 3 million (18%) not travelling or hiring a car over the past year.
Looking at individual state data, we found that South Australians could be considered the nation's most adventurous with 34% hitting the road in the last year and 56% exploring far and wide with interstate travel.
Victorians, blessed with the Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island, are the guiltiest culprits for sticking close to home, with 64% choosing to stay within their state and just over a third (37%) taking a road trip within Australia.
Interestingly, only 28% of Queensland respondents were reported to have taken a road trip within Australia in the past year despite living in Australia's second-largest state by land area and its huge variety of destinations and drives.
Top Australian road trips
Keen to get out and explore your own backyard? Here's our take on the best Australian road trips by state:
- New South Wales: The Pacific Coast (Sydney to Brisbane)
- Victoria: Great Ocean Road (Melbourne to Allansford)
- Tasmania: Hobart round trip
- Queensland: The Great Tropical Drive (Cairns/The Daintree to Townsville)
- Western Australia: The Coral Coast Drive (Perth to Broome)
- Northern Territory: The Stuart Highway Drive (Darwin to Alice Springs and Uluru)
- South Australia: The Wine Tour (Adelaide to the Barossa)
