With Australia Day around the corner, leading online travel site Wotif.com has today revealed the winners of the inaugural Wotif Australian Town of the Year awards with Bunbury coming fourth on the list.
Described as the best place to go for a dip with a bottlenosed dolphin, Bunbury was placed before ‘the trendiest surf town’ Byron Bay and home of the Great Barrier Reef, Townsville with Mackay in Queensland taking out the top spot.
Wotif data revealed for the Australia Day period, year-on-year interest in Bunbury was up nearly 125 per cent and the town had a predicted average accommodation rate on Wotif.com of $153 per night, proving great value for Aussie travellers.
In the true Aussie spirit of giving everyone a fair go, the awards unearth the ‘must-see’ local towns across the nation in 2018.
With half of all Australians looking to make their next trip a local, one and two thirds of Australians see domestic travel as a way to reinvest in the local economy.
The awards, based on a demand and pricing index, recognises some of Australia’s best holiday hot-spots for 2018 and also calls out these towns for their contribution to Australian holidays, culture and tourism.
Wotif Australian Town of the Year Runners Up:
Shepparton, VIC: This Goulburn River town is home to so much more than SPC tinned fruit, such as the multiple art centres, fruit farms and wineries.
Mildura, VIC: Surprisingly famous for producing more grapes than oranges – while the juice misleads all of us, we’re happy to settle for wine.
Bunbury, WA: The best place to go for a dip with a bottlenosed dolphin.
Bundaberg, QLD: Rum, rum, glorious rum! Need we say more?
Lakes Entrance, VIC: Never underestimate the fun you can have at a Shell Museum, and the Ninety Mile Beach, that’s actually 140 miles!
Townsville, QLD: Great Barrier Reef. That is all.
Port Macquarie, NSW: One of the classic Aussie holiday spots fondly known to many of us as ‘Port Mac’.
Byron Bay, NSW: Always has been, always will be the trendiest surf town in Australia.
Batemans Bay, NSW: Home to some of the best snorkeling trails in NSW.
Echuca, VIC: Known as ‘The Murray’s living legend’, take a trip back in time in this historic town.
