A solid growth of the tourism industry, with Asia remaining the primary source of growth, was confirmed by the figures of the IVS for the period ending September 2012.
The International Visitor Survey (IVS) figures released for the period ending September 2012 have confirmed the growth for the tourism industry solidly rests with inbound visitation, ATEC Managing Director, Felicia Mariani said.
“Over the past 12 months we have seen encouraging growth from both Eastern and traditional Western markets and that trend continues in the statistics released today,” Ms Mariani said.
“Asia remains our primary source of growth, with visitors from this region contributing nearly half of the total international trip spend in the 12 months to September 2012. Importantly the total trip spend by Chinese visitors eclipsed the $4 billon mark, up 16% for the year.”
“China has now firmly taken the #2 spot in visitor arrivals surpassing the UK and USA. Remarkably, China has now become our second largest source market within a period of less than 15 years.”
“Singapore has emerged as another strong contender from the East, with arrivals up 31% for the September quarter thanks to the start up of Scoot services in June this year. This illustrates the importance of low cost carriers operating in the near Asia region in driving demand for Australia.
There are continued signs of recovery out of the important traditional markets of the USA and Japan.
“What is really pleasing is the significant continued growth out of the USA and Japan reflects solid performance from the holiday sector in both of these markets, with US holiday spend up 21% and Japan up 18%.
“This is great news for our industry as many of our operators across Australia still rely heavily on holiday visitation from these two key markets.
“The performance to date only reinforces the need for our industry to establish a good mix of business from both Eastern and Western markets.
“Preparing for properly servicing the needs of the Chinese visitor is vital, as only visitors from New Zealand now outnumber our Chinese customers.
“ATEC’s Welcoming Chinese Visitors Strategic Tourism Investment Grant (STIG) program will be launching early in the new year, providing businesses with the tools and understanding to connect with and service this important market.”
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