Australia receives 7.2 million visitors in last financial year

In the last 12 months, 7.2 million foreign tourists visited Australia. The record-high number was because of arrivals from the US, China, Asian countries and some European nations.

The bulk of the overseas visitors were from New Zealand, Germany, Switzerland, China, US, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and India, according to results of survey by Tourism Research Australia. However, for the same financial year, the number of backpackers in the Northern Territory, Queensland and Victoria decreased, while in Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory it increased by 10 percent, reports News.com.au.

The biggest growth was in Chinese tourists who logged a 22.2 percent increase, higher than the growth in traditional tourism markets of US and UK.

Meanwhile in its tourism and hotel market outlook released by Deloitte Access Economics on Aug 25, it forecast an average 6.2 percent growth rate in international tourist visits in the next three years. Deloitte attributes the optimistic outlook to the lower Australian dollar and targeted marketing campaigns.

In the last 12 months, the number of international tourist arrivals in Australia jumped 10 percent, the fastest rate of growth since the mid-1990s, reports the Australian Financial Review. At the same time, tourist spending expanded by 17.9 percent, more than twice the 7.9 percent average for the last five years. Also up are the number of domestic tourists.

Commenting on the improved tourist numbers, John O’ Sullivan, managing director of Deloitte, explains, “We've been seeing double digit growth in both international arrivals and spending for some time now, and the feedback we're getting from tourism operators in Australia and our trade and distribution partners overseas is very upbeat.”

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Source: Australia