Australia tourism pessimistic over 2009 tourist arrivals

www.atec.net.au

Recent figures for overseas arrivals from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that tourist arrivals decline by 3.8 per cent during the 12-month period ended 31 January 2009.

The managing director of the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC), Matt Hingerty, commented that although any decline was not good, the figures should be considered in the proper context.

“While the overall trend for tourist arrivals is down, we are pleased to see that the OAD figures are in line with Tourism Forecasting Committee forecasts,” he noted.

The most recent Tourism Forecasting Committee (TFC) predictions indicate that inbound tourist arrivals are expected to fall by 4.2 per cent this year.

“We remain pessimistic about the next six months,” Hingerty said.

The ATEC managing director noted that while arrivals from key markets such as Japan and Korea fell sharply – by 28.9 per cent and 32.3 per cent, respectively – there was cause for optimism.

He explained that several other markets, including Germany, Hong Kong, and New Zealand, which is the country’s largest source market, all saw small increases in visitor numbers, demonstrating that pocket for growth still exist.

“Nevertheless, given the extremely poor year we have just experienced, we appeal to the Rudd Government not to raise the Passenger Movement Charge in the forthcoming Federal Budget,” the tourism official added.

Thanks to www.travelmole.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.atec.net.au