Date: 7 March 2013
Australia Sees Strong Asian Tourist Arrivals.
CANBERRA, March 7 (Bernama) - Australia's overseas arrivals
have recorded a 4.1 percent increase in the last 12 months, Xinhua news agency
reported, citing a release by the Ministry of Tourism Thursday. The first
Overseas Arrivals and Departures figures for 2013, released Thursday by the
Australian Bureau of Statistics, showed growth of inbound arrivals from many
major markets in the month of January.
Despite a decline in arrivals from Asian markets such as
China, Singapore and Malaysia during January 2013 -- due to Chinese New Year
falling in February this year - these markets grew strongly in the 12 months
to January 2013, up 8.8 percent, 6.8 percent and 8.5 percent respectively.
Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson, said the figures
highlighted the importance of the government's allocation of A$48.5 million
Australian dollars (US$49.5 million) to the Asia Marketing Fund and Tourism
Australia's long term marketing campaign "There's Nothing Like
Australia."
"Continued annualized growth of overseas visitor
arrivals gives the Australian tourism industry cause for optimism with strong
growth continuing from Asian markets," Ferguson said. "It is likely
that we will see strong solid growth in February 2013 driven by the Chinese New
Year period and importantly, there are signs of continued improvement from
large traditional markets such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the
U.S."
Visitors from the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United
States, were up 1.4 percent, 9.5 percent and 8.5 percent respectively in
January 2013. Visitors from other Asian markets including Indonesia and India
continued to record positive growth, up 3.6 percent and 4.6 percent
respectively in January 2013.
Outbound departures continue to grow, albeit at a slower
pace. The outbound sector increased by 4.2 percent in January 2013, almost half
the rate of the five year average of 8 percent.
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