Visitor arrivals grow by almost 10%
International arrivals have continued to “surge” in September, with 9.6% growth recorded on the back of strong growth from Asia and the United States, according to minister for tourism, Martin Ferguson.
International tourist arrivals into Australia grew 9.6% in the September quarter, driven by strong growth in visitor numbers from Asia and the United States (13.1%). But overseas departures were still outstripping the incoming visitors, with trend figures showing 691,000 people left Australia to holiday while 513,000 arrived.
The latest overseas arrivals and departures figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the effects of Tourism Australia’s There is nothing like Australia campaign on Asian visitor numbers, said Mr Ferguson.
“With the roll out of Tourism Australia’s There’s nothing like Australia campaign, the interest of Chinese tourists in travelling to Australia continues to grow strongly. “It is also pleasing to see arrivals from the USA and Japanese markets continue the upward trend, offsetting declines from Europe.”
Arrivals from Japan increased 6.6% in September 2012.
The first quarter of this financial year saw arrivals from China continue to grow at record levels, up 17.2% driven by growth in July (up 11.9%), August (up 16.6%), and September (up 26.5%). Arrivals for the month of September from Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia increased strongly by 33.9%, 14.5%, and 11.4% respectively, continuing the upward trend from the last release.
Europe remains soft given ongoing economic challenges in the Eurozone with arrivals from the United Kingdom down 3.5% from September 2011 and 5.1% for the September quarter.
After rising strongly by 8.0% in 2011-12, growth in outbound departures continues to soften with the first quarter of this financial year up by 3.6% compared to the same period last year.
“The softened growth in outbound departures is good news for domestic tourism and comes on the back of positive domestic tourism figures showing strong growth in trips and expenditure in recent months,” Mr Ferguson said.
AccomNews is not affiliated with any government agency, body or political party. We are an independently owned, family-operated magazine.
