Visitors to OZ down
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show tourist visits to Australia dropped 2.9 per cent in July to 446,400, from the previous month.
The number of trips Australians made overseas also fell, by 5.6 per cent seasonally adjusted (409,600 movements).
Tourists from Britain, one of Australia’s target markets, were 2 per cent lower than in June, and 3 per cent lower over the year. NSW (43 per cent), Queensland (24 per cent), Victoria (14 per cent) and Western Australia (13 per cent) were the main states that British tourists visited.
The statistics on overseas arrivals and departures relate to the number of movements of travellers rather than the number of travellers.
The Australian Hotels Association’s director of national affairs, Bill Healey, said the stronger Australian dollar and a more competitive international market were the main reasons tourism was not growing. He said that while there had been an increase in awareness, and in hits to its website, “a tough battle lies ahead”.
Federal Tourism Minister Fran Bailey said the initial response to the tourism campaign had been positive, with a 71 per cent increase in hits to domestic tourism websites. She said the Government was expecting tourism arrivals to be up 2.8 cent by the end of the year.
“While the World Cup clearly lured tourists to Germany away from Australia, we expect tourism to pick up in the second half of the year with the arrival of thousands of British tourists for the Ashes,” she said.
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