December 7, 2009International arrivals to Australia have increased slightly, but the number of Australians heading overseas has reached new record levels, according to analysis of the latest Overseas Arrivals and Departures data by the
Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF).
Arrivals for the month of October grew 6.5 percent to 485,600 compared to October last year, while Australian departures grew a remarkable 19.6 percent to 547,700.
However, TTF Executive Director Brett Gale says this travel comes at a cost to local tourism businesses.
“These numbers reflect the gradual return of demand after a period of poor international arrivals and the substantial new aviation capacity which is available on key routes,” Gale says.
“However, where this new capacity exists, more of those seats are being taken by Australians than tourists to Australia,” he says.
According to Gale, visitors from the United States are up 26 percent while the number of Australians visiting the US is up 46.7 percent.
“On the one hand, the outbound boom will continue to hurt domestic tourism, but more optimistically, we see opportunity because there are so many new airline seats available to bring overseas visitors into Australia,” he says.
“Now more than ever international marketing can make a difference by taking advantage of returning confidence and aviation capacity.”
The industry has also welcomed a Federal Government decision to bring forward $9 million in tourism funding.
“Looking a bit further down the track, though, it’s critical that this money is replenished so that Tourism Australia’s funding is at least maintained in the 2010-11 Federal Budget, and that there’s additional funding for the National Long-term Tourism Strategy,” Gale says.