More Australians will enjoy this summer in their own country instead of travelling abroad than last summer according to research from outdoor advertising operator APN Outdoor.

The survey of 500 Australians from across the country found that during the 2009/10 summer, 68% of people will take a summer ‘staycation’, choosing to spend their time off at home or away locally for a weekend – a 39% increase from summer 08/09 when 49% of people said they would be ‘staycationing’.

The ‘APN Outdoor Summer Research’ study also revealed that this year Australians will take less time off work, with 58% saying they would take less than one week compared to 41% last year.

All long holidays have declined compared to the summer of 08/09, with those taking one to two weeks dropping from 24% to 18%, two to four weeks from 25% to 15% and one month or more from 12% to 9%.

Paul McBeth, general manager of marketing for APN Outdoor, stressed that job security has most people planning much shorter holidays than ever before and they also plan on spending them domestically.

“Regardless of holiday intentions, Summer is much anticipated, not just for the sun and surf, but for the great mood it puts us in. During summer, consumers are in a more relaxed frame of mind and are keen to try new things, therefore it’s a great time to advertise, particularly when more Australians than in the previous summer will be staying local for their summer holidays due to the impact of the global financial crisis,” explained McBeth.

According to the report, respondents said that regardless of whether they’d be working or not, they would spend more time at the beach (65%), hanging out with friends (65%), shopping (33%), going out for dinner (30%) or going for walks (73%).