Positioning Australian tourism for future growth

The Australian Chamber-Tourism urges the Coalition Government to reduce visa application costs for working holidaymakers in order to continue to grow Australia’s multi-billion dollar international and national tourism market.

The International and National Visitor Survey Results for the year ending June 2019 found international visitors to Australia reached 8.6 million with a spend of $44.6 billion, while National overnight trips reached 113.3 million with a spend of $77.5 billion.

Australian Chamber-Tourism executive chair John Hart said the results showed the potential of tourism in contributing to our national economy.

“Education and holiday were the primary reasons for international visitation to Australia,” Mr Hart said.

“While the average length of international trips has fallen, the average nightly spend has increased with visitors from Japan, the United States and China increasing spend.

“Growth in the Indian market was also impressive with spend increasing 68% and visitation increasing 53%.”

He said that while the latest World Economic Forum Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report ranks Australia 7th overall out of 140 countries, the nation came in 130th for price competitiveness.

“Conducive policy settings such as reduced visa costs, tickets and taxes will boost visitation numbers further, especially in the youth market and working holidaymakers,” Mr Hart said.

“Australian Chamber-Tourism is optimistic that tourism growth will continue on its current growth trajectory with conducive policy settings in place. We look forward to working the the Government to bring about these policy settings to increase overall visitation and spend for both domestic and international visitors.”