Australia remains tourism magnet for international travellers
A lower Australian dollar and targeted marketing campaigns will boost international visitors growth to an average 6.2 per cent a year over the next three years, according to a new report.
Deloitte Access Economics in its tourism and hotel market outlook released on Thursday has upgraded its growth forecasts for visitors numbers after the tourism sector grew three times faster than the Australian economy in the year to June.
International visitors numbers, including those from the fast-growing Chinese market, have surged 10 per cent in the past year, their fastest growth rate since the mid-1990s.
Tourists keep flocking to Australia despite tough global economic conditions. James Horan
This is despite worsening global economic conditions, which normally puts a brake on international tourists.
In a promising sign for Australia's tourism sector, visitor spending has grown by 17.9 per cent, more than double the 7.9 per cent average of the past five years, while domestic tourism numbers have also hit record highs.
Due to its geographic disadvantage, Australia is never likely to compete with bigger destinations, which makes tourist spend – which has been fuelled by wealthy Asian visitors – just as important for tourism operators.
Deloitte Access Economics partner Lachlan Smirl said while the tourism sector had been experiencing a resurgence since the end of the mining boom, it had found another gear in the past six months.
"What is remarkable about the tourism growth we are observing is that it is being achieved against a relatively soft economic backdrop – both internationally and here in Australia," he said.
"The Australian dollar remains relatively favourable and the sustained growth of the middle class in Asia continues to buoy international travel. But as income growth in China grows, travel to Australia is accelerating."
Chinese tourist growth has reached 22.2 per cent for the past year, overtaking established tourism markets such as North America and the UK.
Tourism Australia managing director John O'Sullivan said the Deloitte report backed up recent arrivals and spending data and showed the industry was outperforming the rest of the economy.
Mr O'Sullivan said they wanted to crank up their marketing campaigns globally to take advantage of the latest surge.
"We've been seeing double digit growth in both international arrivals and spending for some time now, and the feedback we're getting from tourism operators in Australia and our trade and distribution partners overseas is very upbeat," Mr O'Sullivan said.
"I'd argue that Australia's international appeal has never been higher, providing a perfect marketing platform upon which to roll out our latest global campaign and take our destination message to the world."
The declining Australian dollar has also boosted domestic tourism as Australians choose North Queensland, WA or northern NSW instead of Fiji, Bali or Phuket.
The Deloitte report found trend growth of 9 per cent for domestic tourism – the fastest on record, with an additional 3 million trips to the domestic holiday market each year. It was the 20th consecutive quarter of growth.
Outbound travel grew at 4.3 per cent, well below when the Australian dollar was on parity with the US currency.
In the major hotel markets, Sydney continued to be the biggest winner with trend occupancy hitting record levels of 89 per cent.
Occupancy rates in Brisbane (74 per cent) and Darwin (67 per cent) were weaker due to an increased supply of rooms.
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