Second Homes in Australia: an Exploration of Statistical Sources

Second homes have been given little attention in the literature of Australian tourism. This is due to their sitting outside the traditional industry structure, ignored as they are not businesses or part of an industry sector. However, second homes are important in two ways. First, they are a major supplier of accommodation for domestic tourists and have a significant impact on the tourism economy. Second, they tend to be found in high concentrations in certain localities, particularly some beach resorts. At such high levels they may have major environmental and social impacts. In order to understand second homes, their impacts and their place within Australian tourism, it is necessary to have reliable and accurate data. It may be thought that such data cannot exist due to the non-commercial nature of second homes. However, this paper presents details of three statistical collections which do provide important information about second homes. These data sources are available Australia-wide (though here my emphasis is on the Victorian coast) and are produced regularly, making it possible in time to identify trends.