Australians have made a record number of short trips overseas, and economists on Wednesday said it is hurting the local tourism industry.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures released on Wednesday showed a gap between overseas visitors to Australia and Australian heading abroad of more than 280,000.

6.8 million Australians took a short trip overseas last financial year, with New Zealand (more than one million trips), Indonesia (650,000) and the United States (630,000) the most popular destinations.

In contrast, ABS figures showed only 5.7 million visitors made a short term visit to Australia.

Traditionally a net recipient of tourists, the ABS figures showed Australia has had a tourist deficit since 2007-08.

CommSec chief economist Craig James said the tourism deficit has mainly been caused by the relatively high Australian dollar, and is hurting tourism and accommodation operators.

"There's a record number now of people traveling overseas compared with those coming to Australia, and what it means for the tourism regions is that we're going to see less profitability and less employment," James told ABC News on Wednesday.

However, he also said it means good deals can be had by Australians traveling domestically, as local operators slash prices to counter the attractive exchange rates available overseas.

"They're just gonna have to keep prices under downward pressure, they're gonna have to keep cutting prices to be able to try and attract not just foreign tourists to come to Australia, but also

to keep more Australians traveling inside the country rather than outside," Craig James added.

The Transport and Tourism Forum's Evan Hall said, while the global financial crisis and high Australian dollar have affected visitor numbers, there also needs to be more investment in international tourism campaigns.

"What we've been calling for is a campaign that can be run consistently into the future like New Zealand has done, like Victoria has done within Australia," Hall told Australian Associated Press.

"The same campaign for a decade and that yields long term results. We've certainly been wanting that, and we've now got that with the campaign that's been launched by Tourism Australia.

"But, in real terms, the amount of money that has been invested in getting Australia out into the markets overseas has been in decline over the past couple of years."

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