The number of visitors coming to Australia has risen despite global economic uncertainty, the strong Australian dollar and natural disasters.
Tourism Research Australia’s International Visitor Survey shows visitor arrivals rose by three per cent for the year ending June 2011. Visitor nights rose by four per cent and expenditure by five per cent.
Business travel was buoyant. The number of business travellers to Australia rose by nine per cent for the year ending June 2011.
Asian markets were the strongest performers, led by China.
“These are encouraging figures, considering the global economic circumstances and the pressure the tourism industry is under from the high Australian dollar,” said the Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson AM MP.
“As the growth markets for Australia’s tourism industry turn increasingly to Asia, tourism operators are working hard to highlight Australia’s assets beyond the capital cities to our beaches, rivers, bushlands and forests, many of which are encapsulated in our iconic National Landscapes.
“Domestic tourism makes up three quarters of the sector and some parts of Australia are still doing it tough, so Australians need to balance out the appeal of overseas travel with Australian holiday breaks to support the sector which employs half a million Australians.
“The task for the Australian tourism industry is to invest in innovative ways, to make Australia an even more attractive place to travel for business or to take a break.”
The Minister Assisting on Tourism, Senator Nick Sherry, said the figures on business travel were especially encouraging.
“The nine per cent increase in business visitors opens up fresh opportunities for investment in quality hotels and other tourism infrastructure,” Minister Sherry said.
“Business travellers are high-yield tourists and their spending totalled more than $8 billion last year.”
For the year ending June 2011, there was solid growth from Asia with visitor numbers up (10 per cent), nights up (seven per cent) and expenditure up (12 per cent). Of the top-ten markets from Asia, China was the strongest where visitor numbers (26 per cent), nights (12 per cent) and spend (19 per cent) were all higher. Solid growth in visitor numbers was also recorded for Malaysia (14 per cent), Indonesia (13 per cent), India (11 per cent) and Singapore (10 per cent).
The numbers from New Zealand were also strong during the year with the number of visitors up (five per cent), nights up (13 per cent) and expenditure up (10 per cent).
Visitor numbers from North America were down (five per cent), nights down (three per cent) and expenditure down (five per cent) while for Europe visitor numbers fell (three per cent), nights down (four per cent) and expenditure down (six per cent).
The International Visitor Survey is at www.ret.gov.au/tra