Unprecedented numbers of international travellers are flocking to Australian shores during the highest tourism boom since the 2000 Olympics.
With the dollar declining significantly in September, the tourism industry is set to be the big winner in 2014 with double-digit growth in arrivals recorded over the last 12 months.
International travellers from Malaysia, China and India are leading the trend with Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan increasing 8.2 per cent in short-term arrivals.
According to Tourism Australia, almost half of all international visitors to Australia travelled for the purpose of holiday. Those visiting friends and relatives accounted for 28 per cent.
“Not since the Olympics” have we experienced such a tourism boom.
“We haven’t seen these sorts of international arrivals numbers since the days of the Sydney 2000 Olympics,” Tourism Australia managing director, John O’Sullivan said.
However, the weaker Australian dollar may be bad news for Australians travelling abroad.
The sliding dollar has prompted Tourism Australia to predict that domestic travel will take precedence on an Australian’s itinerary.
Tourism Australia’s 10-year forecast estimates that the number of nights spent at domestic hotels to rise from 293.2 million in 2013-14 to 316.4 million in 2022-23.
However, this trend isn’t certain. Data from February suggested that the sliding dollar did little to deter Aussies from time abroad.
“[Travel spending] has nothing to do with the dollar. It is about the availability of flights and the competition that creates around pricing, which continues to be a strong proposition for the traveller,” Flight Centre chief operating officer Melanie Waters-Ryan told the Financial Review.
A recent poll, conducted by iwantthatflight.com.au, also suggested that 57 per cent of those surveyed wouldn’t be deterred from travelling overseas due to a sliding dollar.