No increase in tourists to Australia but they are spending more
A report on International Visitors in Australia, published yesterday by Tourism Australia has found that although there had been no increase in the number of tourists coming to Australia, those who came were spending more.
In the year ending September 30, there were 5,022,256 visitors aged 15 and above. This represented no change since September 30 last year, but average spending per tourist rose 12%, to $2665.
The report said about $18.9 billion came to Australia as a result of direct tourism activity, this being an increase of about 7% over the corresponding period the previous year.
The Minister for Small Business and Tourism, Fran Bailey, said “Profit was more important than numbers as while numbers are a good indicator, the real issue in any business is what enables your business to grow.” “You improve the bottom line by improving the yield you make”.
NSW received most visitors, with 54% and 43% went to Queensland.
New Zealand was the largest source of visitors at 964,436, followed by Britain 654,132, Japan 613,130, and the US 421,764.
The Opposition spokesman on Tourism, Martin Ferguson, said the findings were not all good news, adding, “The report shows no increase in number of visitors in the past year and, worryingly, a serious drop in tourists of key markets of Japan, New Zealand and the UK”.
He added that most of the increased profit went to cities and upmarket hotels and coupled with a downturn in domestic tourism, this was bad news for regional areas.
He added, “We wanted high yield but we also wanted numbers,” “It’s good to get dollars but also to spread the dollars.”
The MD of the Australian Tourism Export Council, Matthew Hingerty, said he thought the report underestimated the money that came into Australia as a result of tourism, adding, “We feel that there’s been a significant under-calculation of the spending – the methodology may be flawed”. He added, “The amount spent could be up to 20 per cent more than the report’s estimated $18.9 billion”.
Mr Hingerty said Australia needed an increase in the numbers of tourists as well how much they spent, adding “If you are a turnstile operated place like a theme park you still need people coming through.
It’s not one or the other – you need them both.”
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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