More to Australia than Sydney, gappers told

An increasing number of people taking gap years in Australia are failing to get out and see the outback, it has been suggested.

While the International Visitor Survey indicates the number of Antipodean gappers is the same as four years ago, many remain in Sydney due to the cost of travelling around the country.

Many states - particularly those in northern regions - have seen a noticeable drop-off in the number of visitors from overseas.

In 2011, Queensland - home of the Great Barrier Reef - welcomed 35,000 fewer gap year travellers, while Northern Territory saw a 15,000 drop in visitor numbers.

Tony Hopkins, chief operating officer at Greyhound Australia, told the Sydney Morning Herald that the situation demands "urgent attention".

"Unless we can get more backpackers into the mum-and-dad run tourism businesses around the country, we're just not going to have an industry left," he stated.

Mr Hopkins said there are a number of reasons why backpackers have been reluctant to leave New South Wales.

"All year there was the myth that Queensland is either underwater or on fire," he noted.

"On top of that, there is the false belief that there are no jobs in regional Australia, which is not true."

He said Tourism Australia may also need to take some of the blame for failing to advertise more remote regions of the country as much as the major landmarks.

"Sydney's a great place, I'm not denying that," he said.

"Bondi beach, the Opera House, the bridge, the harbour, you'd be committing marketing suicide if you didn't advertise that. But there's so much more to Australia than Bondi beach."

A number of Year Out Group members organise gap year programs in Australia, including BUNAC, Flying Fish, Lattitude Global Volunteering, i to i Volunteering, Oyster Worldwide, Peak Leaders, Real Gap Experience, Projects Abroad, Travellers Worldwide and WAVA.

See the different gap year destinations on offer.