Asian tourism to Australia up 6.5 percent

Asian tourists are continuing to lead a revival in Australian tourism, with more than six million international tourists arriving on Australian shores for the first time in the past year.

Asian tourists are continuing to lead a revival in Australian tourism, with more than six million international tourists arriving on Australian shores for the first time in the past year.

Year-to-date arrivals from Asia rose 6.5 per cent compared to 1.2 per cent growth from the rest of the world.

The biggest boost of nearly 15 per cent came from China, followed by a 14 per cent increase from Taiwan.

More traditional markets are also bouncing back, with visitors from Ireland up more than 13 per cent, Japan up seven per cent and the US up nearly three per cent, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics arrivals and departures figures for August.

But arrivals from Australia’s biggest source market New Zealand fell for the second month in a row, down more than three per cent.

While it was hard to establish the cause, Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive John Lee said the introduction of the passenger movement charge in July may have had an impact.

The fee rose from $47 to $55 in July after changes announced by the government in the May budget.

“Charging our biggest inbound market the highest short-haul departure tax of any developed country in the world does not help to improve our competitiveness or encourage greater tourist expenditure in the visitor economy,” he said.

But Mr Lee said the overall figures were positive and defied subdued global economic conditions.

Growth in Australians travelling overseas is also slowing, with a six per cent increase in the past year compared to more than 10 per cent the year before.

The biggest drops have been to Egypt, Argentina and Greece.

But more than eight million Australians still travelled overseas in the past year, up from 7.6 million the year before.

New Zealand is still the most popular destination, with more than one million Australians heading there over the past year.

It was followed by Indonesia with more than 800,000 and Thailand with more than 500,000.

But French Polynesia is the fastest-growing destination for Australian travellers, despite coming off a low base.

Its popularity rose more than 50 per cent to 9,000 travellers.

Chile was also boosted by more than 30 per cent after Qantas began flights to Santiago.

Asia is also gaining popularity, as well as Sri Lanka, Poland, Brazil, Thailand and the Cook Islands.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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