Tourism reverses as more check out than in
FOR the first time in almost 20 years, the number of Australians
going overseas for their holidays is poised to overtake the number
of foreign tourists coming here, as one market booms and the other
stagnates.
Preliminary estimates by the Bureau of Statistics suggest that
foreign tourism into Australia stagnated again last year. Tourist
numbers totalled 5.65 million, a rise of just 2%, on top of a rise
of just 0.6% in 2006.
In sharp contrast, the number of Australians holidaying overseas
shot up 11% in the 11 months to November, and has risen more than
60% in the past four years, as fears of terrorism have subsided and
the dollar’s value has soared.
In October, for the first time since 1990, seasonally adjusted
figures show more tourists headed out of Australia than into it.
Ten years ago, there were roughly three tourists arriving here for
every Australian tourist who left.
Although surveys overseas show Australia still ranks well among
tourist destinations, tourism from key markets such as Japan,
Taiwan and South Korea has gone backwards, partly because of
poor-quality packaged tours.
Tourism Australia’s expensive “Where the bloody hell are you?”
marketing campaign was a dismal failure, its message appealing more
to Australians than to the rest of the world.
At the same time, the soaring Australian dollar has made visits
to Australia far more expensive for foreign tourists, and holidays
overseas much cheaper for Australians.
In just four years, the number of Australians making short trips
overseas has swollen by 2 million a year, jumping from 3.4 million
in 2003 to an estimated 5.4 million in 2007.
Thailand has been the biggest beneficiary, with Australian
tourists in the 11 months to November trebling from 113,000 in 2003
to 338,000 four years later. The number of Australians going to
China swelled from 99,000 to 257,000, while those heading to India
more than doubled from 45,000 to 101,000.
Last year record numbers of Australians headed to destinations
as diverse as France (86,000 to November, up 30%), Vietnam
(134,000, up 29%), Japan (114,000, up 29%) and Latin America
(55,000, up 11%).
Tourism Australia’s latest forecasts project a slightly better
year for inbound tourism in 2008, assuming that the giant Airbus
A380s start flying here this year, as scheduled. Until then,
tourist arrivals will be increasingly constrained by lack of seats
on planes.
Bureau of Statistics figures show that in November, seasonally
adjusted tourist arrivals again outnumbered departures, but the
first estimates for December show that arrivals slumped back.
Posted
on
Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 12:15 am under