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A popular destination

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St Columba Falls, north-east Tasmania

In a recent Lonely Planet survey of travellers, Australia was rated Number 1 as the place most people want to visit.

In 2004 more than five million tourists visited Australia. The top 10 sources were: New Zealand, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Singapore, China, Korea, Malaysia, Germany and Hong Kong.

The visitors were attracted by the allure of crystal beaches, a pristine natural environment, unique fauna, friendly people and a relaxed atmosphere. But they did not come just for a beach holiday. Australian food and wines have great stature in the world’s culinary circles. Australian arts have built a reputation for innovation and talent providing another reason for tourists to visit. Australia’s Indigenous art is celebrated in art galleries from New York to London.

Australia is so large it encompasses a range of climatic zones, from the tropical northern regions, through to arid expanses of the interior and temperate regions in the south. Autumn and winter in Australia are from March through May and June through August. July has the coldest average temperature with alpine areas averaging between 5 and minus 5 degrees Celsius. The temperature in the winter in the tropics—or in ‘the dry’, as winter is known—varies between 5 and 30 degrees Celsius. During the spring and summer (September–November and December–February), Australia’s southern regions experience the highest average temperatures in January and February, while December tends to be the hottest summer month in the north.

Unique attractions

Susan Kurosawa

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Camel-riding at Cable Beach, Broome, Western Australia

Golden beaches and red deserts, great green rainforests and blue lagoons, pristine wilderness and fish-filled marine sanctuaries, world-class ski fields and Olympics-tested playing grounds—Australia offers more diversity than just about anywhere on the planet. Historian Geoffrey Blainey has written of a ‘sense of overpowering space’, and it’s those rich and dramatic landscapes that captivate even the most passive of tourists.

But there was a time, several unenlightened decades ago, when the Land Down Under relied on funny animals and barbecues on the beach for its tourism promotion. Sophistication was something that happened elsewhere. Australia’s most famous comedian, Barry Humphries, announced that living in Australia was ‘rather like going to a party and dancing all night with one’s mother’.

Australia’s international image has come of age in the 21st century and the world knows Australia’s capitals are centres of style and culture, with cities such as Sydney and Melbourne repeatedly voted by readers of American and British travel magazines as the world’s ‘most livable’. Factors in those choices range from user-friendly accessibility and affordability to such specifics as best cafes, outdoor spaces, fringe theatre, summer festivals, sporting choices and hip civic architecture and public spaces.

The 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney helped revise global opinion, too, as a massive viewing audience tuned in to images of cosmopolitan cities, rugged bushland, World Heritage–listed national parks, tropical holiday spots and such icons as Uluru (Ayers Rock), the Great Barrier Reef and the Sydney Opera House. That scrutiny soon turned to a new wave of tourists keen to experience first-hand our informal hospitality and friendly frontier spirit.

Green tourism is one of the biggest-growing world trends and Australia delivers eco-experiences in spades. Kingfisher Bay Resort on Queensland’s Fraser Island was one of the world’s first real eco-lodges and its sound environmental practices have become a global benchmark. Travellers in Australia can ‘lodge’, in the true sense, at five-star properties in wilderness settings from the top of the Northern Territory’s Arnhem Land to the far reaches of Tasmania. Even little Lord Howe Island, off the coast of New South Wales and described by David Attenborough as ‘so extraordinary, it is almost unbelievable’, has a new lodge that’s a match for the world’s best. Reaching out to nature does not mean roughing it.

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Perth: the city skyline as seen from the banks of the Swan River

On the food scene, Australian chefs such as Tetsuya Wakuda, David Thompson, Neil Perry and Christine Manfield are recognised as among the globe’s most innovative. Australia’s Pacific Rim cuisine, served with a discernible Asian twist, makes best use of the amazing range of seafood, meat and artisanal produce available in all states. From runny cheeses to truffles, olive oils to nashi pears, lush tropical fruit to myriad varieties of chillies, Australia produces the lot.

Food and wine tourism is growing, too, with Australian wineries offering cellar-door sales, tours and estate restaurants serving regional fare. Wine-growing areas also offer local festivals, hot-air ballooning, touring by Clydesdale-pulled carriage or vintage car and such events as jazz and opera amid the vines.

City pleasures? How about award-winning hotels, big-brand boutiques, cafes with water views, tours of bustling morning markets, botanic gardens filled with native flora and historic arcades such as Sydney’s The Strand and Queen Victoria Building, home to beautiful bespoke shops. Or hit a beach and watch surf lifesavers strut their stuff, catch a game of cricket or unique Australian Rules football, take a seaplane ride over shimmering waters to a secluded beach.

And, of course, don’t forget Aboriginal-guided bush tucker tours and up-close encounters with those quirky kangaroos and koalas, emus and wombats at wildlife parks regulated with a keen eye on conservation.

Whether woken by laughing kookaburras in the bush or room service with a smile at a top hotel, when it comes to tourism, the Land Down Under definitely is on top of things.

Susan Kurosawa has been travel editor of The Australian newspaper since 1992.

Did you know?

Over 450 000 backpackers travel to Australia each year and stay an average of 64 nights. Most are aged 20–24 years (43 per cent) and most come from the United Kingdom, Nordic countries, Germany and the United States. In 2003 backpackers spent a total of $2.2 billion in Australia.

In fact

According to Tourism Australia, the 10 most popular tourist activities in Australia are: shopping; going to the beach; going to markets; pubs, clubs and discos; visiting national parks; visiting wildlife parks, zoos and aquariums; visiting botanic gardens; boating; visiting historic sites; and visiting museums and art galleries.

The 10 most visited regions in Australia are: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, tropical north Queensland, Gold Coast in Queensland, Perth, Adelaide, Sunshine Coast in Queensland, the Whitsundays in Queensland and Petermann in the Northern Territory

Last update May 2005