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Featured News

Event tourism takes off in Australia

Australians travelling domestically to sports, music and theatre events jumped 12 per cent in 2018, with more than two million tickets purchased by fans who travelled interstate.

Ticketek-owner TEG Analytics found that the tourism segment related to entertainment was worth upwards of A$2.1bn (£1.2bn/€1.3bn/$1.5bn).

Sport topped the list for Australians as the most likely sector to travel for, with around 60 per cent of interstate event tickets purchased for a sporting experience. Sport was boosted by the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, giving Queensland the largest share of the event travel market with 38 per cent of all interstate tickets purchased.

Victoria, which hosts events like the annual Australian Open tennis tournament, followed closely with 33 per cent of the sports market.

TEG Tourism

Image: Andrew Reid on Linkedin

TEG’s general manager of analytics and insights, Andrew Reid said: “There is a greater appetite than ever to travel for sport and entertainment and shows no sign of abating.

“Our research found 56 per cent of travellers have booked a trip interstate to attend a sport or live entertainment event.”

Consumer research conducted in October this year shows that over 70 per cent of bookings for flights and accommodation are made after event tickets are purchased, increasing to 80 per cent for car rental.

Meanwhile, 33 per cent of people said that they would travel interstate to see their favourite music performer, sports team/sports event or theatre show, no matter the cost, increasing to 64 per cent “if the price is right”.

Image: stephenk1977