Tourism beyond the main centres

A handful of cities account for most international arrivals, but visitor spending spreads much further than that. Smaller towns near coastlines, lakes, ski-fields, walking tracks and wineries depend on tourism in ways that don't always show up in national figures.

For these places, the rhythm of the year is dictated as much by school holidays and shoulder seasons as by global travel trends. A wet summer or a cancelled cruise season can reshape a town's cash flow before any policy lever moves.

Coverage that treats tourism only as a national export figure misses this. The interesting reporting is local: how a town manages parking, freshwater, housing for seasonal workers and the quiet weeks between peaks.

We'll keep visiting these places when nothing dramatic is happening, because that is when the structural story is easiest to see.