International tourism critical to Australia
Australian tourism is flatlining and needs urgent resuscitation, according to peak national body, Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF).
TTF Executive Director Olivia Wirth says that Australia needs to revitalise the tourism industry to lure more international holiday visitors.
“The latest International Visitor Survey (IVS) released today shows that while overall international visitor expenditure has increased by 8.6% to $16 billion in 2007/08, spend by holiday visitors to Australia remains unchanged. While the business and education travel sectors continue to perform well, the drop in holiday visitors is a concern for the industry,” Ms Wirth said.
“International visitors in 2007/08 are almost identical to last year, however holiday travel has nosedived 4.6 per cent – with a drop of 122,000 people coming to Australia.”
“The number of holiday visitors is now at about the same level as in 2000, meaning we’ve been treading water since the Olympics.â€
Ms Wirth said while economic factors including the exchange rate have potentially had an impact, other factors, such as the lack of investment in developing new tourism attractions and experiences, need to be urgently addressed by the industry.
“The National Tourism Strategy, which is currently being developed by the Federal Government needs to address challenges such as planning, attracting investment and developing new products and experiences for Australia.”
“While the marketing and promotion of Australia is an essential ingredient in the success of our sector, we need greater attention on infrastructure and developing the right products for the travellers we’re trying to attract.”
“Australian tourism needs a shake-up and a clear direction if we are to reverse this alarming trend.”
“Growing our share of leisure travellers is critical and we can’t be complacent if we want to grow our share of cashed-up global tourists.”
“The good news is there are many opportunities for the country.”
“Asia and the Middle East are forecast to be the fastest growing outbound travel regions in the next decade and Australia is on their doorstep.”
“For the first time ever the tyranny of distance will not be a factor for us in targeting some of the world’s largest outbound markets.â€
Ms Wirth said the decline of some of Australia’s traditional tourism markets, including Japan demonstrates the challenge for Australia and the need to grow new markets.
“We’ve seen a catastrophic slide in the proportion of holiday visitors from Japan since the turn of the century.” “The number of Japanese tourists coming to Australia peaked at 674,000 in 2000/1 – now it’s just 484,000.”
“That’s costing us money.” “In six of the previous seven years, Japanese visitors spent $1 billion or more, but in 2006/7, this fell to just $859 million.”
“Beyond the resources boom, the services economy will be critical to Australia’s future, therefore we can not afford to let the tourism sector slip.”
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