Social Media Shaping The Way Australians Travel Around The Country

According to new research commissioned by Tourism Australia, social media is rapidly impacting the way Australians travel domestically, with a significant number of the 10 million Aussies on Facebook* making travel decisions based on their friends' social media activity.

Australia is the world's most Facebook addicted country, with Australians also admitting to bragging about their domestic travels on social media.

A survey of over 1,000 Facebook users nationwide revealed up to 73 per cent admit to proactively checking the social media networks of their friends whilst they are on holiday, including visiting their friends' Facebook pages, checking news feeds, photos, reading status updates or directly conversing about the trip on Facebook.

Not only are Australians following the holiday adventures of their friends on social media, 20 per cent of those surveyed admitted they have been prompted to book a domestic holiday as a result of viewing these updates, often inspired by photos and check-ins.

More than any other age group, Generation Y are most likely to take the plunge and book a holiday based on the social media activity of friends, and most influential are their friends' photos and status updates.

The research also suggests we are a nation of online braggers, with more than half (57 per cent) of respondents admitting they update their status or post photos to not only share but show-off their domestic holiday adventures to family and friends.

When comparing the sexes, women are far more likely than men to brag about their Australian holidays via social media, with 54 per cent of females admitting to proactively uploading photos whilst on holiday, compared to only 43 per cent of men.

Social media and advocacy has quickly become deeply integrated into Tourism Australia's marketing activities, including the latest phase of the agency's latest There's nothing like Australia campaign, which has a strong digital focus and was even launched to Australians using its Facebook page.

"Advocacy is a powerful tool in tourism promotion and Tourism Australia has worked hard to gain what I believe is a leadership position in this space," said Tourism Australia Managing Director, Andrew McEvoy.

"Long gone are the days of getting back from the family holiday and inviting round family and friends to sit through a slide show of your favourite photos. This new research shows we are now telling stories of our great Aussie holiday adventures almost as they are happening - in real time - and, by doing so, inspiring our friends to follow in our footsteps.

"With 1,400 photos from Australian adventures shared every week, our Facebook page provides an incredibly powerful platform for more than a million of our most passionate Australian fans to share their holiday experiences of our great country with their social networks and, by doing so, inspiring many more Australians to reconsider their own amazing backyard for a leisure break," Mr McEvoy said.

*According to the Yellow Social Media Report (June 2012), more than 10 million Australians use Facebook, each spending an average of six hours on the social networking site per week, making us the most Facebook addicted country in the world.