SYDNEY – The strength of the Australian economy makes Aussies ‘flavour of the month’ for tourism marketers around the globe competing for travel budgets, according to peak national body, Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF).
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released Overseas Arrivals and Departures figures for August, which show the number of Australians heading overseas was up 8.5 percent while arrivals of international visitors to Australia were down 0.8 per cent on August 2008 – meaning 110,000 more Australians headed overseas than international visitors came here.
TTF executive director Brett Gale said the gap is of concern.
“This clearly shows that Australians are still willing to travel,” Gale said, “given the right opportunity at the right price.
“Australians are taking advantage of cheap airfares thanks to increased airline capacity – and the strong Australian dollar – and heading overseas.”
Gale said while international arrivals are down overall, some countries are bucking that trend.
“Well-targeted tactical marketing and the availability of great value airfares is driving demand from key markets.
“In August, arrivals from New Zealand were up 6.1 percent and from the US up 10.8 percent.
“This demonstrates the importance of giving Tourism Australia the flexibility to shift its focus to source markets that are responding to marketing campaigns.
“Airline capacity is also playing a role in driving demand, especially from the US and Malaysia (up 2,700 or 19.4 per cent).”
Gale added, “It’s essential we’re able to capitalise on this increased capacity because with more seats coming in, we should be seeing a rise in the number of international visitors to Australia.
“However, its major impact so far is contributing to the growth of Australians going overseas, which will see domestic tourism continue to struggle.
“For example, 51,300 Australians went to Indonesia (Bali) in August, up from 36,500 last year – that’s a jump of more than 40 per cent.”
