10 July 2008

Melbourne top for business travel, Sydney top for tourism, say surveys

Melbourne has yet again beaten Sydney for the top spot in the latest business traveller’s survey, reports the Sydney Morning Herald, while Sydney is climbing its way back to first position to be the World’s Best City to visit.

Wotif.com, an accommodation website, surveyed over 700 business travellers about their favourite travel destinations for business purposes.  One third of those surveyed chose Melbourne over Sydney as their preferred destination, while 80 percent said they try to extend their business trip to include leisure time.  Melbourne has ranked top for business travellers for three years running, and was followed by Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. 

Sydney is also basking in accolades from a recent survey which ranked the city fourth place in the World’s Best City survey. Travel and Leisure magazine has been running the survey amongst its international travellers for thirteen years now, and Sydney has ranked the number one World’s Best City eight times.  Last year, the city fell to fifth place.  The editor of the travel magazine, Anthony Dennis, blamed the position loss on lazy marketing strategies and not on the city's standards in the tourism industry.

"The NSW Government has been criticised in recent years for not doing enough to capitalise on the success of the events like the Olympics and the Rugby World Cup in 2003, but this result indicates that Sydney still rates highly among travellers in comparison to other great world cities," he said.

Tasmania has also been voted to the top ten islands in the world, and in 2006 won the prestigious award for Best Island in Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific by the same magazine.

Recent statistics from the Government show Australia’s tourism numbers are far behind the world’s tourism growth rate, which is causing concern for many tourism operators.  However, Tourism Australia is working hard to ensure its new marketing initiatives will increase the number of international visitors applying for a visa for Australia and to maintain the country’s reputation as one of the world’s best tourism destinations.

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Article by Jessica Bird, Australian Visa Bureau.

All travellers to Australia need a visa.  Travellers from some countries can apply online for an Australian travel visa.