The Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson AM MP, has welcomed Emirates Airlines' announcement of extra capacity into three Australian cities and says it is good news for travellers and Australian tourism operators.
Emirates Airline is boosting its presence in Australia, with new services to add an extra 95,000 seats between Dubai and Brisbane each year and a further 95,000 seats linking Dubai and Melbourne. The announcement comes one day after Emirates boosted capacity on its Dubai-Sydney route via the introduction of an A380 on the service.
Minister Ferguson said: "The new services linking Dubai to Melbourne and Brisbane will be welcomed by travellers, as will be the deployment of the A380 on the Dubai-Sydney route.
"But the real beneficiaries will be Australian tourism operators, for whom the Middle East is emerging as a vitally important market. This decision by Emirates makes Australia a more accessible and more attractive long-haul tourist destination.
"I welcome this investment by Emirates in the strength of the Australian tourism and aviation sectors. Almost half a million Australians are directly employed in the tourism industry and this investment and commitment from Emirates will strengthen this very important sector."
Middle East visitors contributed more than $400 million in tourism export earnings for the year ending September 2008 and visitor numbers increased 20 per cent on the previous year during this period.
Tourism Australia expects visitor arrivals from the Middle East will more than double over the next ten years, with an average annual growth rate of 10 per cent forecast through to the year 2017.
Visitors from the Middle East are Australia's highest-spending inbound visitors, spending an average of more than $8,000 per person (compared with $3,154 for Japan, $4,886 for the US, and $5,468 for the UK).
Minister Ferguson said: "Emirates Airlines has been a major cooperative marketing partner for Tourism Australia in the United Kingdom for the new 'Come Walkabout' destination campaign.
"Dubai is a well-established aviation hub for travellers from the UK, Europe, and the USA, so it is very pleasing to see Emirates increasing its presence and capacity in Australia and it is good news for travellers and very welcome news for Australian tourism operators."