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Australia has welcomed “record numbers” of visitors, said Katherine Droga, general manager western markets and global distribution development at Tourism Australia.
“We’ve hit the magic seven million mark in terms of visitor numbers. We’re up about 10% up in international visitor spend and 7% up in international arrivals.”
Droga attributed the growth to a favourable exchange rate, consumer demand, good aviation access, new infrastructure and a host of new product. Droga added: “It’s a much more attractive destination than it’s ever been.”
One of the destination’s key source markets is China, said Droga. “The growth out of China has been phenomenal. [Out of the Chinese market] we had a 32% increase in visitor spend last year, which is worth about $7 billion.”
Denise von Wald, regional general manager, UK and northern Europe at Tourism Australia added that as a source market the UK continues to boom. “We’re thrilled with the latest figures. UK passenger numbers are up 5% in the first eight months of the year and in August we were up 7%. That’s terrific for us given that the UK is a large volume and high yield market. We’re delivering more than 670,000 [arrivals from the UK] per annum. The UK is also [our] number two market in terms of visitor spend, and the number one for dispersal.”
Two other areas of focus for the tourism board are MICE and the luxury sector.
“We have a new premium focus that we’ve dialled up in some of our markets,” said Droga. “We see good growth in that market out of China, the US, the UK and Europe.”
As of January 2016 the tourism board will roll out a campaign based around Australia’s coastal and aquatic features, such as the Great Barrier Reef.
The campaign will follow the early 2016 launch of a three-part BBC One documentary, titled David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef. The rights to the documentary have been sold to more than 130 countries, added von Wald.
Droga explained: “This campaign is about leveraging our competitive advantage [and publicising] our amazing marine life, tropical islands and pristine beaches. It’s about playing to our strengths. We know that 70% of our visitors have coastal and aquatic experiences and we’re overlaying these with great food and wine [following the Restaurant Australia campaign], which is a great combination for our visitors.”
