Press Release

Price More Important than Hot or Cold for Australians Choosing Winter Holiday Destination - Survey

June 28, 2006

The price of a holiday rather than the chance to hit the ski fields or relax in the sun on a northern beach is the most important factor for Australians deciding where to spend their winter holidays, a new survey has revealed.

The survey, involving more than 1200 respondents and conducted by totaltravel.com, asked: Where would you prefer to go for your winter holiday? More than a third (436 or 34%) said would embrace the snow, well ahead of the 26% (343) who said they wanted to escape the cold and travel north for their winter break.

However, almost four out of every ten persons surveyed (502 or 39%) said they didn't care whether they went hot or cold as long as the price was right.

The survey was conducted from the start of June in the lead-up to the winter school holidays starting across Australia. Paul Fisher, spokesman for totaltravel.com - ranked the number one site for Australians seeking information about destinations - said the survey confirmed how price sensitive consumers were becoming.

"Traditionally holiday-makers at this time of the year are strongly divided between the snow and the beach as their preferred destination," Mr Fisher said.

"But this survey shows price has now become the number one factor in deciding where people choose to holiday at winter rather than the type of destination."

Mr Fisher said the result backed up an earlier totaltravel.com surveys which showed Australians were becoming increasing price sensitive in the face of higher petrol bills and increased mortgage repayments follow the recent interest rate rise.

totaltravel.com currently has up to 52,000 visitors a day and is now bigger than Lonely Planet, AAA Tourism and all the State Tourism Authority sites such as Tourism Qld for Australians seeking information about destinations.

Launched in 2002, totaltravel.com delivers both a travel guide and a place to find accommodation, activities, transport, restaurants and other visitor information.

Users can seek information about a destination and then be directed to a local business in the area.

The site now offers more than 250,000 pages with contact details for more than 100,000 Australian businesses.

ENDS

Media enquires:
Paul Fisher
Global Marketing Manager
totaltravel.com
Phone +61 (0)2 6680-8755
Mobile 0404 057 367