Australian tourism sector is expected to see low tourist arrivals in 2009 as its major markets, the US and Japan, are in recession phase, forcing people to cut their travelling expenses.
According to the Tourism Research Australia, overseas tourist arrivals to Australia are likely to go down by 1.5% in 2008 and 4.1% in 2009; however, an increase of 5.3% is expected in 2010, taking take the total arrivals to 5.6 Million, as reported by RTTNews.
In 2009, inbound tourism is expected to decline 3.6% to AU$ 24 Billion. Despite robust marketing campaigns, tourist arrivals from Japan and the US are expected to decline most sharply by 11.9% and 8.5% respectively.
But this fall will be slightly compensated by a 1.8% increase in the value of domestic tourism due to the reduction in prices of fuel, especially for the day trips. Also, there will be a rise of 14.3% and 4.5% in tourist arrivals by the emerging economies of India and China respectively.
Additionally, weak Australian dollar is also impacting the country’s outbound tourism. Due to the combined effect of economic recession and weak Australian currency, travelling has become highly unaffordable for Australians. Though, weak local currency is a positive trait for domestic tourism of the country as it makes prices of domestic tourism more competitive, especially against the rival imported consumable.
Australian tourism sector is making every possible effort to lure higher number of tourists to the country. The government has invested $50 Million (US$ 34.5 Million) to promote the Australian tourism. They are also using a TV ad that displays Australian landscapes.
According to a Research Analyst at RNCOS, “2009 is expected to be challenging for the tourism sector of Australia. The decline in Australian tourism sector is a direct consequence of global recession that is leaving people with less money to spend on travelling. This, in turn, is adversely affecting the tourism sector of the country. Visitors from the key markets for Australia - Japan and US – have dropped radically as the two countries have already announced themselves in recession phase.”
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