Issues & Trends – Mar 2010
Six years of relentless outbound market growth – up 66% since 2004
THE growing balance of payments deficit caused by the widening gap between inbound and outbound tourism growth – put at $4 billion by the Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF) – is being driven by soaring outbound growth rather than poor inbound performance.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)figures show that in 2009, when major source markets were adversely affected by the global financial crisis, stepped up promotional efforts resulted in visitor numbers only marginally (0.9 per cent) below 2008 – and the country’s market share of world tourism actually increased.
But figures compiled by the ABS and Tourism Research Australia also show that Australian outbound travel, currently underpinned by an exceptionally strong Australian dollar is soaring. The numbers of Australians travelling overseas has been on a relentless upward growth curve since 2004.
In the five years to the end of 2003, the Australian outbound travel market hovered between 2.8 and 3.2 million trips. In the following six years it has grown relentlessly to 5.4 million international trips – a two thirds (66 per cent) increase. The duration of outbound trips has kept pace with Australians spending more than 110 million nights overseas in 2009 compared with about 70 million in 2003.
New Zealand attracted more Australians than any other market fol-lowed by North America, UK/Europe, Indonesia and Thailand.
However a different picture emerges when length of stay is taken into account. Australians spend an average 12 nights in New Zealand which places the destination fourth in total visitor nights behind Continental Europe, the UK and North America.
Visitor nights data also sheds new light on the popularity of Asian destinations: While Indonesia attracts more Australian visitors, Thailand is tops for visitor nights followed by China.
And while Hong Kong appears to be almost line ball with Malaysia in the number of Australian visitors it attracts, closer examination shows Malaysia is actually doing much better with over 30 per cent more room nights.
Download pdf with graph and table