Press Room: Media Releases

BRISBANE – 22 January 2008: Wotif.com has kicked off Australia Day celebrations with the announcement of Australia’s Top Destinations for 2007.

Sydney took overall honours as Australia’s top destination, registering the most number of bookings by Wotif.com customers throughout the year than any other Australian destination.

Special mentions on the list were the Gold Coast – Top Beach, Launceston and Tamar Valley – Top Regional Destination, and the Hunter Valley – Top Wine Region.

Announcing the complete honours list of Australia’s top 25 destinations, Wotif.com’s CEO, Robbie Cooke, said the list (which took into account bookings from both business and leisure travellers) celebrated the great diversity that Australia offered to travellers.

“The Top Destinations List takes into account nearly four million room nights and over two million bookings throughout 2007,” Cooke said.

Wotif.com processed over two million bookings in 2007, and our Top Destination List takes into account all of these bookings,” Cooke said.

According to Cooke, Sydney’s dominance as Australia’s most visited city demonstrated its ongoing popularity for business, leisure, domestic and international travellers.

Queensland was also a standout in the annual list, with Brisbane, Cairns, the Sunshine and Gold coasts helping the Sunshine State to secure four of the top 10 positions.

“Considering the other six spots on the list were occupied by the country’s capital cities, it’s an outstanding achievement for Queensland and the individual regions,” Cooke said.

According to Wotif.com, the data indicated shifts in the travel habits of Australians, particularly when it came to booking holidays.

“While city centres and popular leisure destinations continue to thrive, it’s great to see lesser-known regions do well on our website,” he said.

“Wotif.com allows people to easily compare accommodation options in a variety of regions and our data indicate that increasingly, Australians are waiting to see book the hotels and regions that are offering the best value.”

Cooke said Wotif.com had also seen a continued increase in the number of people booking accommodation for weekend getaways; “We’re seeing a trend against long, annual holidays in favour of multiple short breaks spread out across the year,” Cooke said.

Wotif.com’s Special Honours List

Australia’s Top Destination – Sydney
Australia’s Top City – Sydney
Australia’s Top Beach – Gold Coast
Australia’s Top Regional Destination – Launceston and Tamar Valley
Australia’s Top Wine Region – Hunter Valley

Australia’s Top Destinations For 2007*

1. Sydney – NSW
2. Melbourne – Vic
3. Brisbane – Qld
4. Gold Coast – Qld
5. Adelaide – SA
6. Canberra - ACT
7. Perth - WA
8. Sunshine Coast – Qld
9. Cairns – Qld
10. Hobart – Tas
11. Launceston and Tamar Valley – Tas
12. Darwin - NT
13. Newcastle – NSW
14. Townsville – Qld
15. Coffs Harbour – NSW
16. Albury – NSW
17. Port Macquarie – NSW
18. Hunter Valley – NSW
19. Geelong – Vic
20. Byron Bay – NSW
21. Wollongong – NSW
22. Port Douglas – Qld
23. Wagga Wagga – NSW
24. Ballarat – Vic
25. Mackay – Qld

- Ends -

* List compiled by totalling the number of accommodation bookings made using Wotif.com for each individual region from 1 January to 31 December 2007.