Sharp drop in number of Chinese tourists visiting Australia

Australia is facing a sharp drop in Chinese tourism and a shift in attitudes towards visiting the country that may signal the start of a longer term decline.

A study by Travelzoo has found that Australia had dropped from first to seventh place as the preferred location for Chinese tourists.

Japan is now their number one destination, according to the study, helped by a sharp fall in the value of the yen in the past year making it more attractive for Chinese shoppers. The US was second, followed by Taiwan.

The number of Chinese tourists travelling to Australia dropped by 9.4% in November 2013 compared with the same month in 2012, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said earlier this week.

The question for Australia's tourism industry is what the shift means for tourism in the long term. The Chinese government passed a law in October banning some types of organised overseas travel tours. These tours had contracts with popular overseas shopping outlets to take tourists to designated shopping centres, and the government stepped in to stop the practice.

Tourism Australia said the drop could be attributed to the introduction of this policy, with a spokesperson telling The Guardian Australia "we've known about the tourism law for a while now and always knew that it would have implications, most particularly on the group tour market, when it came into force in October. And that's what I think we're seeing in these figures.

"The impact is not unique to the Australian market, with New Zealand and Asia reporting similar trends in their own Chinese arrivals."

Tourism and Transport Forum Chief Executive Ken Morrison believes that the decline in the number of Chinese visitors was only a short-term blip.

Morrison explained "we see this as a case of short-term pain for mid-term gain, with the reforms aimed at ensuring Chinese visitors have a quality tourism experience that still represents good value and that they return home sharing their positive stories of Australia.

"Despite the monthly fall, Chinese arrivals are up 15.2% for the year and we are confident Chinese visitors will respond positively to the changes and we will again see monthly growth from this critical source market."

But the problem may be more serious than that. David Beirman, a senior tourism lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney, said the ban on shopping tours may not be the reason for the drop.

Instead, he pointed to the broader competitiveness of the global tourism industry.

Beirman added "shopping tours were a problem for tourists going to a number of destinations in other countries.

"I think what's happened is that everyone knows that China is the number one tourism market in the world and so everyone is trying to get in on it. Even though the Chinese market is continuing to go strongly, the competition is also continuing to grow."