Summer spending surge delivers multimillion-dollar boost to coastal economies
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Some of Australia’s best-known beach destinations – including Lorne and Lakes Entrance in Victoria, St Helens and Swansea in Tasmania, and Jervis Bay in New South Wales – have recorded some of the strongest trading conditions this summer.
New analysis from NAB shows that in these and other coastal hotspots, overall spending jumped by around 80% during a peak holiday fortnight compared with a typical two-week period.
The seasonal surge translated into an additional $84 million flowing into local economies, with restaurants, retailers and accommodation providers among the main beneficiaries.
The study examined almost 500,000 merchant terminal transactions across popular coastal towns, comparing activity during a fortnight of high visitor numbers with a standard two-week period.
Holiday hotspots highlighted in the data include Lorne and Lakes Entrance in Victoria, St Helens and Swansea in Tasmania, and Jervis Bay in New South Wales.
Source: NAB
NAB said the results underline the importance of the summer break for regional business communities that rely heavily on visitor trade.
“Millions of Aussies are in holiday mode and enjoying a well-deserved break,” said Julie Rynski (pictured right), executive, metro and specialised business at NAB. “The mass exodus from capital cities to holiday hotspots is crucial for smaller, local economies.
“While visitors enjoy beach days and summer reads, business owners in these areas are often at their busiest as the population of holiday hotspots swell. This peak period contributes to much of their annual turnover as the increases in accommodation, hospitality and service station spending show.
“Accommodation had the biggest increase in spending in Lakes Entrance in eastern Victoria, with spend up more than 600% over two weeks, while Margaret River in southern Western Australia has seen a 786% rise in retail sales.”
Source: NAB
For small businesses in these regions, the summer period remains central to annual performance and cash flow – a factor of interest to lenders and brokers assessing servicing capacity and seasonal volatility in income.
“Summer is by far our busiest season,” said Robert Bartlett, founder and head distiller at NAB customer Jervis Bay Distilling Co. “We bring on extra hands and pull together as a team to keep up with demand.”
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