Domestic market bounces back

Domestic market bounces back
By admin


Australian tourism turned in a "much improved" performance for the 2011/12 year despite a challenging economic environment and the ongoing strength of the Australian dollars, a new report has revealed.

Tourism Research Australia's State of the Industry 2012 report showed total spending by visitors to Australia climbed 8% to $95 billion during 2011-12, the strongest growth for a decade – fuelled by growth from the business and recovering domestic market. Business travel expenditure climbed 17.9%, while spending by Australians rose 10.7% to $68.4 billion.

Furthermore, solid performances from Asia had "more than offset" declines from traditional European markets, resulting in a small overall inbound increase of 1.2% compared with the previous year to a record 6 million visitors. International visitor spend rose 1.5% to $26.6 billion.

Tourism minister Martin Ferguson admitted there was more work to be done, but was buoyed by the results.

"With domestic tourism making up around three quarters of total visitor expenditure, it is pleasing to see that sector recording its best year for visitor expenditure since the National Visitor Survey began in 1998," he said.

"While international visitor expenditure increased more modestly, the Australian Government's $48.5 million Asia Marketing Fund and the recent launch of the next phase of There's Nothing Like Australia will build on this growth in future years."

Meanwhile, the report highlighted a sharp 23% decrease in Indian visitor expenditure, despite Tourism Australia's recent ramp up of marketing activity in the Indian market.

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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