Tourism makes its mark with a $30 billion contribution

Australia’s export tourism spend for the 12 months to June 2014 has now topped $30.1 billion, a 7% increase on the previous 12 month period, showing its strong and continuing contribution to the national economy.

“These figures are remarkable and give credence to the significant contribution the tourism industry now makes to Australia's national economy,” ATEC Managing Director, Peter Shelley said.

“Australia is recongised as a leading international tourism destination and this strong position has seen an amazing rate of visitor growth, particularly from the leisure sector with 11% growth in the past 12 months, bringing the total number of visitors annually to 6.1 million."

“Our industry has worked hard and advocated strongly for more investment in Australian tourism to help us compete effectively in the international market, and we are now seeing the benefits of these efforts.”

The Asian market, particularly those visitors from China, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia - driven by the leisure segment - have all registered strong growth on spend.

“We now see 47% of our total visitor spend coming out of our Asian markets and this gives the industry a good indication of where we need to invest our efforts and expect further growth."

“What is also promising is the strong and continued growth out of our traditional markets including the US, UK, Germany and France - providing our industry with a good mix of visitors and opportunities to cater to their niche needs."

“These figures confirm the value of investment in our industry and recongise the fantastic international marketing efforts of Tourism Australia and our State tourism bodies in promoting Australia to the international market."

“While competition for the international tourist remains strong, Australia is proving to be a highly desirable and engaging destination and we must continue to build on this positive growth into the future.”

sourced:traveldailynews.asia