Chinese tourists are poised to overtake New Zealanders as Australia's most common visitors within five years, according to the government's tourism researcher.
Tourism Research Australia's Tourism Forecasts 2015 says the number of foreign tourists is expected to increase by 5.9 per cent to 7.5 million this financial year, including a 15.5 per cent rise in the number of Chinese visitors.
Although China's economy has slowed down, growth in tourists from China, India and Malaysia is expected to outpace the global average rate of growth, the body's assistant general manager, Janice Wykes, said.
"Similarly, the economic growth of Australia's leading Western tourism markets such as the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand is expected to exceed the average rate of growth forecast for advanced economies as well," she said. "Inbound tourism demand is likely to remain strong for the next few years."
The total growth rate is forecast to fall to an average annual rate of 4.1 per cent over the next decade, resulting in 10.6 million tourists arriving in 2024-25. By 2019-2020, the number of mainland Chinese visitors is expected to reach 1.4 million, up from 927,700 in 2014-15, overtaking New Zealand for the first time.
Jie Chen, a tourist from Beijing who visited the Wild Life Sydney Zoo with her husband Weibin Lee on Monday, said they were "loving it" in Australia so far. She said the couple planned to spend three days in Sydney followed by two days in Melbourne and three days travelling along the Great Ocean Road.
Jianchao Zhan, a tourist from Guangzhou, said he had come to Australia with his family for a two-week holiday because his cousin had studied here and enjoyed it. But Mr Zhan said his own experience in Australia was proving "so-so" and he had preferred a previous holiday in the United States.
In Australia spending from the domestic and international tourism sectors is expected to reach $145.1 billion by 2024-25, up from $107.8 billion in the 2014-15 financial year. Overnight visitor spending, the key part of the industry's ambitious Tourism 2020 target, is expected to reach the bottom end of the goal range of $115 billion to $140 million by the end of this decade.
Strategy change
Minister for Tourism and International Education Richard Colbeck said tourism was already a major pillar of the economy, but the growth forecasts were encouraging.
"This government remains focused on embracing opportunities and continuing to grow our tourism sector," he said after the report was released on Monday.
Margy Osmond, chief executive of industry body Tourism and Transport Forum, said a renewed economic and investment strategy was needed to ensure tourism remained one of the big waves of the future for the Australian economy.
"More tourists, staying more nights, and spending more money, means more jobs for Australians and a wealthier nation," she said. "It's an absolute no-brainer for government and industry to work together to put tourism into overdrive to take up the slack in the economy following the end of the mining boom."
Tourism Accommodation Association chief executive Carol Guiseppi said the industry could be assisted by positive measures to cut red tape, improved service standards through greater access to skilled staff and by curbing unregulated accommodation.
"There's no better time to make the most of the fall in the Australian dollar," she said.
Tourism Research Australia expects the Australian dollar will average around US70¢ to US72¢ over the next two years, with domestic tourism expected to pick up momentum as a result of the lower currency and lower fuel prices.
But overall, international tourism is expected to lead the growth for the industry, supported by a lower currency and improved economic conditions in key source markets. As a result, the inbound share of total tourism spending is expected to rise to 34 per cent by 2024-25 from 31 per cent in the last financial year.
Outbound travel stable
Tourism Australia managing director John O'Sullivan said that while the industry was performing strongly, the challenge was to maintain this momentum into the future.
"I think we've seen Australian tourism come of age as an industry in recent years and demonstrate itself to be a key pillar of economic growth for our country," he said.
"Whilst this is only a forecast, the outlook for our industry over the next few years certainly looks positive, particularly if the strengthening of economic conditions we've been seeing across key international markets continues and foreign exchange remains favourable."
Growth in outbound travel by Australians is expected to remain at a stable rate of around 3.3 per cent a year to 2024-25, reaching 12.8 million departures. That means Australia will still have a larger number of its citizens heading overseas than international visitors reaching our shores.
No comments:
Post a Comment