Tourism Industry Out-Performing Broader Australia Economy

31 August 2016

Tourism grew three times faster than the broader Australian economy and international visitors spent a record $38.1 billion over the year to June 2016, according to Tourism Research Australia’s latest International Visitor Survey.

While the latest quarter saw some impact upon yield, the annual performance was strong with a 14 per cent or $4.7 billion increase in spending over the 12 month period.

The United States and China led the growth in yield with American visitor spending growing 20 percent while Chinese visitor spend was up 27 per cent.

Spending by leisure visitors in particular from these important markets grew very strongly up 43 percent for Chinese and 41 percent by American holiday makers.

“Australia’s tourism industry continues to register strong growth and attract record numbers of international visitors,” said Steven Ciobo MP. Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment.

The strong performance has prompted Deloitte Access Economics to further upgrade its forecast for international tourism in its latest edition of the Deloitte Tourism and Hotel Market Outlook.

Tourism Australia Managing Director John O’Sullivan said that the positive tourism outlook presented by Deloitte Access Economics was supported by recent arrivals and spending data, showing the tourism industry to be growing strongly and out-performing the broader Australian economy.

“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.”

“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,” he said.