Tourism's long road back

Once a famed tourist destination known for its vibrant cities, beautiful beaches and remarkable outback, Australia is now a net exporter of tourism.

And the gap between the number of international visitors and Australians heading overseas has reached record heights.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, released last week, showed the number of international visitors fell by 9% to 432,200 in September, whereas the number of Australians heading overseas rose by 8.9% to 790,600.

"Put simply, Australia is no longer flavour of the month," Darrell Wade, chief executive of the tour operator PEAK Adventure Travel Group, tells SmartCompany.

Describing the inbound market as "very depressed", with reports of a 15 to 20% decline, the Intrepid Travel co-founder does not expect the inbound market to pick up for another two or three years.

Even operators targeting the offshore market are expecting to battle through mixed conditions. "The overall numbers are strong as the ABS figures show, but average selling prices are low, meaning margins are lower than traditionally seen," Wade says.

But there is hope. The fastest-growing tourism market in the world, Asia, lies at our doorstep.

And food tourism, particularly around the capital cities, is holding up well. Operators say with capital improvements under their belt, and a little Government assistance by means of direct flights and quickened visas for visitors, Australia could recover its past glory.
Regional centres bear brunt of annus horribilis

There's no doubt it's been an unlucky year for tourism operators: the Australian dollar reaching a post-float high, thereby luring locals overseas and discouraging foreigners from visiting or spending generously while travelling; natural disasters in Queensland; the ash cloud in Chile closing down airports and the grounding of budget airline Tiger.

Throw in lacklustre consumer sentiment and the bitter Qantas dispute which remarkably led to the airline grounding flights and locking out staff, and you've got the right ingredients for an annus horribilis.

"2011 for the tourism industry, particularly regional Australia, is one we want to put behind us," says Tourism and Transport Forum chief John Lee.

Lee isn't the only one pointing out that regional centres are vulnerable in a tourism slowdown.

Perrie Croshaw, co-founder of holiday accommodation rental company South Coast Holidays, says her locations within a couple of hours of Sydney are experiencing high demand, partly because business-people are not comfortable enough to holiday too far from work.

Luke Martin, of the Tourism Council Industry Tasmania, says the state's regions are "struggling" as visitors eschew longer, rambling holidays in favour of a few days in Hobart and Launceston.

Daniel Gschwind, of the Queensland Tourism Industry Council, notes that "domestic tourism is the bread and butter for many regional operators".

Source - smartcompany.com.au