Visitor arrival statistics paint a bleak picture
The ratio of annual tourism arrivals to departures has hit a new 25-year low.
Nearly 10,000 fewer international visitors visited Australia in 2011 while the number of Aussies taking overseas holidays soared to 7.8 million.
The Tourism and Transport Forum says Australian Bureau of Statistics data released this week shows Australians took nearly two million more trips overseas in 2011 than in 2010. The upward trend in the number of Australian’s travelling overseas is also continuing with departures up 7.1% in December 2011 compared to December 2010.
According to the ABS, Australia had just under 5.8 million international visitors in 2011 – 9700 fewer than the previous year.
Tourism minister Martin Ferguson said that, despite the weaknesses in the economies of some of Australia’s traditional markets and the impact of natural disasters, visitor arrivals to Australia in the year to December 2011 were relatively stable compared to 2010, down only 0.2%, bearing in mind that 2011 was not a good year either.
“International arrivals increased in 11 of Australia’s top 20 markets in 2012,” Mr Ferguson stresses. “Arrivals from China remained buoyant increasing 19.4% in 2011 to 542,000 arrivals, making it Australia’s third largest inbound market behind New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Increases were also seen from Singapore and Malaysia, up 3.4% and 1.8% respectively.
“Arrivals for business travel increased 6.0% in 2011 while other sectors such as holiday travel decreased by 4.1%.”
The most foreign visitors to Australia came from Oceania (mostly New Zealand) and North East Asia, which each accounted for 23% of arrivals in December 2011. This was followed by North Western Europeans (19%) and South East Asians (15%).
TTF boss John Lee says Australia’s annual tourism balance of trade deficit blew out to a record of almost $8 billion.
“With the dollar likely to remain strong for some time and investment in new resorts in South-East Asia, many leisure tourism operators in Australia are facing an uncertain future.”
Mr Lee says global economic uncertainty has pushed down visitor numbers from Britain, Europe, Japan, Canada and the United States.
“Growth from emerging markets including China, now our third largest source country, Indonesia, India and the Philippines has not made up for the falls,” he said.
Mr Ferguson said that the figures “highlight opportunities for the tourism industry” in 2012 and beyond.
“While the high Australian dollar and affordable airfares are continuing to make overseas travel feasible for more Australians, Australia is consistently attracting a record number of international visitors,” Mr Ferguson said. “The data shows the growth potential in major Asian markets, and in business travel replacing declines in visitor arrivals from traditional markets.”
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