Brits to surge to Australia in 2013: TA

Brits to surge to Australia in 2013: TA
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Shrinking visitor numbers from the UK are set to bounce back this year with Brits increasingly "bored of austerity", according to Tourism Australia.

Last year saw numbers from the UK dip by 2-3% with the country one of Australia's only significant markets to post a decline. But TA managing director, Andrew McEvoy is confident this year will see British numbers improve.

Speaking to Travel Today in Abu Dhabi, McEvoy highlighted forthcoming events such as the British and Irish Lions rugby tours in June and the Ashes cricket test series towards the end of the year as incentives for Brits to pay Australia a visit.

"The travel agents over there are telling us their forward bookings for Australia have improved," he said.

Competitive airfares are largely behind the renewed interest, with additional capacity from a range of carriers driving prices down.

In addition, "pent-up demand" as a result of recent belt-tightening is also likely to see inbound visitors from the market bounce back.

"I just think the Brits are a bit bored with austerity," McEvoy said. "And I think Australia, with all these great events, is going to get a boost."

However, he admitted there is still a lot of work to do to get the market back to its historic highs as its economic situation continues to be "tough".

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