Inbound tourism grows to 8m and adds a few $billion to Australia’s economy

It’s becoming a familiar story, the world is travelling with unprecedented fervour and Australia is high on the bucket list for many international travellers and this is delivering great economic results for the national economy.

“In the 12 months to September we have seen our tourism export income grow to $41.2 billion which is up 6% on the previous year and you could argue there are few other Australian exports with such sustained growth and such a sunny outlook,” ATEC Managing Director, Peter Shelley said of the International Visitor Survey (IVS) figures released today.

“While China continues to be a leading market for Australian tourism, it is great that we are also seeing growing engagement from the United States, which has been identified as a market that holds a lot of future potential, particularly with high net worth visitors.

“This year we have also seen India’s star rise - with 26% growth in visitor spend - and it is encouraging to see the positive trends in arrivals from both emerging and existing markets.”

Mr Shelley said Brexit and the reduced purchasing power of the pound sterling continued to impact the UK market despite the highly competitive airfare market.

“ATEC members are telling me there is a real sense that Brexit, economic uncertainty and the cost of exiting the EU is really impacting on the psychology of Brits, but right now there is also a highly competitive airfare market which we hope will help to drive renewed engagement going forward.

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