Australia's tourism: international spendings hit $34.8b record

Tourism Australia's strategy to attract more foreign travelers reached a $34.8 billion record influx this year to September 30

For Australia, the 19 per cent rise in spending was the strongest tourism growth since 2001.

According to Tourism and International Education Minister Richard Colbeck, the authorities efforts to boost flight capacity, the visa reforms and the smart international marketing payed off and increased Australia's number of visitors, making the continent grow on the global tourism market.

Chinese visitors had a great contribution to increasing these numbers, as they rose by 22 per cent to 896.000 over the last year. Record spendings were also registered by tourists from the New Zealand, the US, India, Singapore and Malaysia.

According to the opinion of John O'Sullivan, managing director of Tourism Australia, the focus on local food and wine to market the country as a unique touristic destination was an excellent idea to attract more international tourists:

"The tyranny of time, distance and cost mean that Australia will never be a high volume destination, which is why our Tourism 2020 strategy is unashamedly focused upon yield: encouraging international visitors to stay longer, disperse further and ultimately do more and spend more while in our country.

"Looking at these latest figures, we're clearly making solid progress, with international spending for the 12 month period growing nearly twice as fast as our already strong international arrivals numbers."

International visitors spendings increased in all states and territories of the continent, except for Western Australia and the Northern Territory. The education market was also a strong contributor to Australia's tourism influx, with a 19 per cent rise in visitor numbers and spending up 27 per cent rise in spendings that brought the country $8.2 billion.

"With approximately 600,000 international students currently enrolled onshore, and growing, that adds up to a significant contribution," Tourism and International Education Minister Richard Colbeck concludes.