Japanese tourists shun Australia
Japanese tourism to Australia has declined from a peak of 821,400 when the Asian financial crisis broke in 1997, to just 685,500 in 2005.
To counter this, the Federal Govt has launched an “action plan” aimed at restoring Australia’s “brand”, keeping airfares competitive, and providing products that cater for an increasingly sophisticated Japanese market.
Australian Tourism Export Council spokesman Matthew Hingerty says the plan is overdue.
“Traditionally the tourism industry, the inbound industry, the cornerstone on which it has been built has been the Japanese market,” he said.
“New Zealand is number one, but they are not high spenders.
“Japan was number one – it’s now number three and we need to get it up to at least one or two again.”
Mr Hingerty has urged the industry to embrace the plan.
Launching the the action plan in Tokyo, Federal Tourism Minister Fran Bailey says Australia is simply no longer “fashionable” with Japanese tourists.
“It’s a wake-up call and we have simply got to start implementing these recommendations in our action plan,” she said.
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