Australia’s Tourist Arrivals Tops 12 million
The number of international visitors coming to Australia has remained steady despite the tough conditions for tourism globally, according to the latest new tourism figures.
Figures released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics have highlighted Australia’s “resilience in the difficult economic climate”. Approximately 12.4 million people arrived in Australia during 2009 and 12.3 million left, making the total number of arrivals and departures almost 25 million.
Original forecasts predicted international departures would fall by almost 3 per cent last year, however they rose by over 8 per cent as Australia's economy fared relatively well throughout the global economic downturn. A record 6.3 million Australian residents made short-term departures, up from 5.8 million in 2008, according to the ABS research. The top three destinations for Australian travellers were New Zealand, the USA and Indonesia were while tourists visiting Australia were most likely to come from New Zealand, the UK and the USA. Traditionally strong markets such as Japan and Korea posted significant declines in arrivals mainly due to their local economic conditions.
