Incoming tourism dip prompts calls for Federal tourism assistance

The latest Overseas Arrivals and Departures data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows total international visitor arrivals to Australia decreased 9% in September 2011 compared with September 2010.
While China and India bucked the overall trend with continued strong growth in arrivals, peak national body, Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF) has called for urgent Federal Government for tourism like that given to the car, steel and cattle industries.
TTF Chief Executive John Lee "many tourism operators around Australia are not having a good time.
"The number of international visitors to Australia has fallen in 2011 while the number of Australians travelling overseas continues to grow at double digit pace, giving us a tourist deficit of more than 1.5 million for the first nine months of the year.
"The car, steel and cattle sectors have received hundreds of millions of dollars in government assistance to address the problems they are facing, yet the tourism industry ï¾ which employs nearly three times as many people as those three sectors combined ï¾ has been left to its own devices.
"Our tourism marketing agencies need additional funding to ensure our message is being heard in an increasingly crowded and competitive international marketplace.
"Keeping tourism marketing budgets there or thereabouts simply isn't cutting it and we will continue to lose market share unless this issue is urgently addressed.
"We need to increase funding for marketing activities in countries which are responding to the opportunity of visiting Australia - China, India and South-East Asian countries in particular.
"It's not enough to redirect existing budgets to those markets from others ï¾ we need to at least maintain our presence in all our key markets and ramp up our promotion, advertising and engagement campaigns in the near-world countries which are showing growth."
The September figures have contributed to arrival growth having remained flat for the first nine months of 2011, with numbers down 0.3%.
Within the figures, China continued its upward trend, up 18.6% while India also continued to grow solidly, up 12.1%. Both markets are up 19.2% and 6.2% for the nine months to September, respectively.
By contrast, arrivals from the majority of Australia's top 10 inbound markets decreased in September, with arrivals from Malaysia down 28%, and Japan and New Zealand both down 21% compared to September 2010.
While a number of Asian markets continue to support the inbound sector, demand from North West Europe and the Americas continues to weaken with arrivals from both regions down 3.5% and 3.7% for the nine months to September, respectively.
Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson suggested that a range of global events including Ramadan falling in August had weighed on visitor arrivals from key markets such as Indonesia and Malaysia, and stated "the continued recovery in Japan from natural disasters, economic instability in Europe and the United States and the Rugby World Cup have all combined to make this September a real challenge for the tourism industry.
"It is important to note that growth from China in particular continues unabated with numbers up almost 19% compared to September 2010, with the China market swiftly closing the gap on the United Kingdom as our second biggest inbound market by arrivals.
"While competitively priced airfares and the continued strength of the Aussie dollar are taking Australians overseas, sustained growth in visitors from China and Southeast Asia remains a bright spot for Australia's tourism industry."
The Minister Assisting on Tourism, Senator Nick Sherry, said global economic uncertainty and a strong Australian dollar were key factors in the current market, stating "in Europe, Japan and the US, economic uncertainty and high unemployment are having a significant effect on tourism demand ï¾ and this is bound to dampen demand for holidays in Australia.

http://www.abs.gov.au