INTERNATIONAL visitor figures to Australia are 21% down from pre-COVID levels, according to figures from Tourism Research Australia (TRA) released today.
Those tourists would have spent an additional $4.7 billion in the Australian economy, TRA said, sustaining 30,700 jobs.
According to Australia Tourism Industry Council Chair Evan Hall, the Federal Government needs to re-invest in marketing to showcase the country.
The decreased figures have had “a devastating impact” on tourism businesses in regional areas in particular.
“The Australian Government has underinvested in tourism marketing,” Hall declared.
“International marketing funding has declined in real terms and should have been significantly increased to recover our international visitors.
“The Australian Tourism Industry Council calls on the Federal Government to reinvest an additional $30 million into tourism marketing to win back the tourists now that the economy needs them the most.”
The TRA also recently found that visitor numbers from China are falling short of previous forecasts, which predicted that China would be Australia’s number one source of inbound travellers by 2025.
However, the latest report found that China’s bounceback will not take place until 2029. JHM
