More than three quarters (78 per cent) of Australians taking a well-deserved break over the summer season will spend an average of five nights away on holiday, with one in five spending more than $2000 on the trip according to a national poll commissioned by the Tourism & Transport Forum Australia (TTF).

According to the survey of 800 Australians by pollster Nielsen, three to five nights on holiday (33 per cent) is the most popular amount of time to spend away from home, followed by one to two nights (24 per cent) and six to 10 nights (21 per cent). A very lucky group of Australians (22 per cent) will spend more than 11 days away on holiday with six per cent of those people spending more than three weeks (21+ days) on vacation.

One in five Australians (22 per cent) will spend more than $2000 in total on their holiday with a further two in five (41 per cent) spending between $501 and $2000. One in three (32 per cent) will spend up to $500 and a handful of financially savvy individuals (five per cent) say they will spend nothing.

A hotel/motel is the most popular form of accommodation for holidaymakers (34 per cent) followed very closely behind by taking advantage of a spare bedroom at a family or friends place (33 per cent). Staying at a holiday resort (11 per cent), caravan and camping (seven per cent) or a serviced apartment (six per cent) round out where Australians like to rest their heads after a day of holiday activity.

“Australians spending an average of five nights away is great news for the visitor economy and the thousands of jobs it supports. Those tourist operators who are lucky enough to have people sticking around for three weeks will be jumping for joy,” said Margy Osmond, TTF CEO.

“These survey figures confirm that investing in visitor infrastructure and creating new experiences and things for people to do while in town means that people will stay longer and spend more in the local economy.”

“Not surprisingly hotels, motels and resorts continue to be the popular choice of accommodation when on holiday, especially when mum or dad’s spare bedroom can’t be taken advantage of.

“With more Australians choosing to see more of their island continent we are seeing a corresponding increase in spending with 22 per cent of people spending more than $2000 on their holiday.

“Collectively Australians are spending $59.8 billion on domestic travel – an increase of five per cent on the previous year – and that is a real shot in the arm for the nation’s visitor economy.”