AUSTRALIA. Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that visitor numbers rose 356,200 in June, up +7% from May.
This increase marked the first monthly increase since a modest rise in January and was the biggest monthly increase since October last year.
Australia’s A$17 billion (US$11 billion) inbound tourism industry has been badly hit by global fears over SARS and war in Iraq.
Australian Tourism Export Council managing director Peter Shelley told Agence France Presse that the preliminary arrivals figures and industry feedback for July and August reinforced the view that a recovery has commenced.
However, Shelley said forward bookings were sluggish and the industry was hoping for a strong final quarter for 2003. “These figures reveal that the industry is not only headed for a second consecutive quarter of negative growth for 2003 – in the region of -14% – but an unprecedented third year of negative growth,” he said.
“It is obvious that there is still a lot of pain being experienced by the tourism export industry, particularly by those companies operating in Asian markets. However, a vein of cautious optimism is present within the industry.”
The ABS also released final figures for May arrivals, which showed a decline of -20.9% compared with May 2002. At that time visitor figures from Asia were still way down, with China down -75% compared with May 2002, Taiwan by -74%, Malaysia by -47%, Singapore by -47% and Japan by -42%.
“The -20.9% decrease in arrivals for May is one of the single largest monthly declines in the history of the industry,” said Shelley. “It equates to 69,000 less visitors.”
According to Tourism Task Force managing director Christopher Brown better news could be expected for June, with all indicators pointing to a rise in travel sentiment as SARS is now considered to be controlled.
“Key industry players have just returned from what was, from all reports, a very successful international trade mission, led by Federal Tourism Minister Joe Hockey.
“The challenge now is for all Australian states and territories to position themselves to capture the pent up demand for travel,” Brown said.
The figures showed visitor numbers from New Zealand, Germany and the US started to rebound during May.
