The Wotif Group has posted full year net profit of $50.96 million, down 3.8 per cent from the previous year on a fall in domestic travel bookings.
Wotif Group's chief executive officer, Robbie Cooke, said an unprecedented rise in offshore travel as consumers took advantage of a higher Australian and New Zealand dollar had impacted the group's result.
"This seemingly insatiable appetite for the overseas holiday has definitely been to the detriment of the domestic break - which has always been one of our key booking sources," he said.
ABS data showed an unprecedented 27 per cent rise in offshore travel by Australians over the last two years, Mr Cooke said.
The online travel booking service posted $52.95 million net profit for the year to June 30, 2010, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
Revenue for the year to June 30, 2011, was up slightly by 1.7 per cent to $138.34 million.
Wotif said it had also lifted the value of travel transactions to a record high $1.1 billion.
Flight transactions rose 35 per cent, to about 137,000, compared with 102,000 for the year before.
Wotif's board announced it would lift its full year dividend payout to 22 cents compared to 21.5 cents last year, which will result in a final fully franked dividend of 12.5 cents for investors.
Mr Cooke said that financial uncertainty in the medium term, together with a lower local currency, should help to improve its returns on domestic getaways.
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