Restaurant & Catering Australia (R&CA) has welcomed the latest data from today’s National Visitor Survey (NVS) which showed that spending on restaurant and takeaway meals accounted for more than 16 per cent of the total domestic tourism expenditure for the year ending December 2017.
Overall, domestic tourists spent almost $10.5 billion on restaurant and takeaway meals out of a total spend of $64.5 billion for the year ending December 2017.
Compared to 2016, spending on restaurant and takeaway meals was up from $9.5 billion, which represented a 10 per cent increase.
R&CA CEO Juliana Payne said the growth in Australia’s domestic tourism expenditure on restaurant meals was consistent with the level of growth in turnover experienced across the industry as a whole.
“What the latest NVS statistics clearly show is that small businesses such as cafés and restaurants are one of the biggest beneficiaries of a thriving domestic tourist market in terms of the economic flow-on effects,” says Payne.
“The total industry turnover for the café, restaurant and takeaway food sector exceeded $44.2 billion for the year ending December 2017, representing 3.8 per cent growth.”
Payne also stated that domestic tourists’ expenditure on restaurant and takeaway meals was a reflection of their priorities while travelling.
“We know domestic tourists consistently rate dining out among their biggest priorities while on holidays, which is no surprise given the world-class café and restaurant scene we have on offer,” she says.
“What is particularly pleasing however is that tourists are now spending more and more of their holiday budget on restaurant and takeaway meals rather than just a mere fraction of it.”
Image credit: Travel + Leisure
