Tourism has become a very serious business, I know this because older men in dark suits now tell me it is so.

Would You Buy A Holiday From This Man? Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson

Instead of a smiling Lara Bingle asking "where the bloody Hell are you", we have Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson imploring us to holiday at home, his message reinforced by the looming presence of Geoff Dixon and Andrew McEvoy from Tourism Australia.

They are all wearing suits and look like they really need a holiday. Instead they are trying to sell us one. Something isn't right. Could it be they are getting a little desperate?

Because that is the way it appears at times, as if they can't quite figure out what is happening in Australian domestic tourism, where there is plenty of good news among the bad.

Perhaps they should relax and stop trying to reprise the 1980s because the industry is being driven by long-term trends they have absolutely no control over.

The big one of course is that more Australians are travelling overseas than ever before. The strong Australian dollar said to be the major driver.

This implies that when the dollar decreases in value relative to international currencies, the trend will slow – perhaps even reverse – with more Aussies holidaying at home.

I disagree with this logic. The trend toward international travel over domestic holidays has been in place for at least the past decade. For many of those years the dollar was weak.

A much more important driver has been access – better, cheaper and more frequent air services – and the simple fact that many Australians believe an overseas holiday is better value.

Full story:

www.traveltrends.biz/ttn555-lighten-up-tourism-is-supposed-to-be-fun