Travel to Australia reaches record levels
10 September 2016 by News DeskTravel to Australia: the number of short-term visitors has risen by 14 per cent in the past 12 months.
Travel to Australia: more than eight million overseas visitors have arrived so far in 2016 following another double-digit rise in monthly arrivals.
716,000 people arrived down under for a short-term visit in July, an increase of 14 per cent on the same time last year.
And 2016 is set to be a record year for visitors with a total of 7.935 million arrivals in the 12-months to July.
New Zealanders made up the bulk of visitors in July with 131,000 arrivals, closely followed by 118,400 Chinese travellers whose numbers increased by 25.3 per cent.
US visitor numbers increased by 27.4 per cent while the number of Koreans rose by 33.3 per cent.
Travel to Australia reaches record levels
The increase in visitors was seen across the country, with only the Northern Territory suffering a fall in overseas visitors.
New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania all posted double-digit increases and Queensland managed a 9.2 per cent rise in numbers, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Tourism and Transport Forum CEO Margy Osmond welcomed the figures as further evidence of the importance of the tourism industry.
“Month after month, the evidence continues to build why Australia’s visitor economy is the industry to back with a dedicated economic strategy from the Federal Government,” said Ms Osmond.
Ms Osmond said the TTF still wanted to see fees and charges that added to the cost of travel to Australia slashed, and more investment in tourism marketing.
“We also need the government to support the industry to secure its workforce for the future,” she said.
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