Traditional Markets Recover

AccomNews Wednesday, September 4, 2013

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Visitors from China and India continued in record numbers in the year ending June 2013, the latest International Visitors Survey found.

The survey, released today [4 September] by Tourism Research Australia, found Chinese visitors for the year jumped to 646,779, while arrivals from India increased to 154,015. For the same period, arrivals from the US increased to 464,634 – just shy of the record 470,401 seen in 2001. Most European markets also recorded growth, including an increase in arrivals from the UK.

Leo Jago, chief economist and general manager of TRA, said the results are an encouraging indication of improvements in the market.

“Along with continuing record arrivals from China which were up 17% since last year, and India which increased by 8%, we also saw increases in numbers for most of our traditional markets, particularly in the backpacker sector,” Dr Jago said. “Results like these are clear indications of the ongoing strength of the Asian market, and the continuing recovery of most of our traditional markets, in particular the US.”

It was a positive year for all international arrivals in the year ending June 2013, with figures increasing by 5% to 5,817,261. The total number of overnight stays increased 8% to 213 million and visitors spent a total of $19.3 billion, an increase of 6%.

Other key findings from the report for the year ending June 2013 include:

• Backpacker visitors increased 7%, boosting the recovery in the traditional markets. Nights spent in Australia by backpackers increased by 14% and spend in Australia by 10%.
• Backpackers account for 23% of all nights and 17% of all spend in Australia by international visitors.
• International visitors travelling for the purpose of holiday were the largest growth sector, with arrivals increasing 7%, nights 15% and spend 10%. Much of this increase was underpinned by the recovery in the backpacker market.