Arrivals jump almost 7% in November
China continues to be the "stand out performer" as total international arrivals into Australia climbed almost 7% in November, with Japan and the US also showing encouraging growth.
Figures released this afternoon by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show the number of Chinese tourists visiting our shores increased 14.4% to 57,300 during the month.
Overall international numbers increased 6.9% to 556,200.
The US also saw a healthy jump, up 8.6% to 45,300, while other encouraging markets included Japan with arrivals in November rising 10% to 34,000 and up 6.3% to almost 321,000 in the first 11 months of 2012.
"The latest arrivals figures make pretty good reading, with international visitors up a solid 4% over the past 12 months, to a record 6.1 million," Tourism Australia managing director Andrew McEvoy said.
"China continues to be a stand-out, with continued double digit growth, but it's also really pleasing to see continued recovery in traditional markets like the Japan and especially United States, where ‘Team Australia' has just completed another very successful G'Day USA."
Eight Asian countries showed double digit growth, an encouraging sign, according to the Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF)
It also pointed to growth from Europe and other traditional markets, some of which have struggled in recent times.
Arrivals from France climbed 16.3% over November 2011, Germany sent 10% more travellers while the number of Italians arriving in Australia jumped 9.4%.
"This shows that despite challenging economic conditions in Europe and the strong Australian dollar, Australia remains a desirable destination for travellers around the world," TTF chief executive John Lee said.
However, the TTF warned that taxation remains an issue.
"The impact of excessive aviation taxes is clear, with a decline in the number of British tourists coming to Australia and a fall in the number of Australian visitors to the UK for the year ending November — the only major country where that is the case," Lee said.
"With a family of four paying at least $784 in aviation taxes for the privilege of travelling between the two countries — cutting the competitiveness of both destinations, it should be no surprise that numbers are down."
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
andrew mcevoy china tourism tourism australiaLatest News
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