Australian residents are increasingly forgoing international vacations and opting for domestic hotspots, which has given the retail sector a much-needed boost, Smart Company reports.

New data from the Australian government suggests more than 73 million overnight trips were taken through March, which marks a 5 percent growth compared with the previous year. Vacationing tourists are more likely to spend money at retail, with a separate report from Deloitte noting the sector is on pace to record 2 percent growth through the end of 2012.

The growth projected by Deloitte may not be as significant as many retailers had hoped for, but it's a large step up from the 0.7 percent growth of 2011. Deloitte predicts growth will further accelerate in 2013 to 3 percent.

"Overall, we expect that interest rate cuts and budget handouts will help the retail sector continue some upward momentum in the coming months," Deloitte Access Economics director David Rumbens told the news source.

Australian retail has been hindered the past few years because of the growing prevalence of ecommerce, which enables consumers to import less expensive retail goods from foreign countries.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Monday, June 18th, 2012 at 10:18 am .