Tourism Australia, in a bid to boost the domestic market, offered 16 luxury holidays as prizes in a renewed marketing campaign. The trip will be given to the winner of the favourite domestic destination contest.

Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson urged Australians to share online their preferred vacation spots to help boost the domestic market, which accounts for 75 per cent of tourism in the country.

He said the strong Australian currency is one of the reasons why a growing number of citizens prefer to spend their holiday overseas than at home.

But despite the strong dollar, 689.9 million overnight trips were made by Australian residents in the past 12 months to July 2011, which was a 4 per cent increase for the same period a year earlier.

Those interesting in posting their holiday stories could share it on www.nothinglikeaustralia.co.au. Entries should be in 25 words of less and may include images.

It is the second phase of the ministry's campaign launched in 2010.

In the first phase, Australians were asked to describe why the country is a unique tourism destination by sharing their thoughts online. In over four weeks, the portal got more than 30,000 postings.

"These experiences were used to create an interactive map of Australia that has become the holiday planning tool for travelers globally," Tourism Australia Managing Director Andrew McEvoy told B&T.