Olympics Provide Tourism Boost for Australia

International visitor arrivals to Australia continued to grow in the month leading up to the Olympic Games according to ABS figures released today, Australian Tourist Commission (ATC) Managing Director John Morse said.

‘The preliminary Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Overseas Arrivals and Departures figures show 368,300 international visitors to Australia in August 2000, up 3.6 per cent compared to August 1999,’ Mr Morse aid.

‘Despite some concerns of a pre Games tourism lull, the figures released today show that international visitors to Australia continued to climb in the lead up the Games with double digit growth recorded from some markets in North America and Asia.

‘The number of international visitors to Australia in August was affected by changes in travel patterns due to the Olympic Games with some visitors bringing forward or postponing travel to Australia.

‘We anticipate strong growth in inbound visitors over the next six months with indications from the industry showing strong forward bookings and interest in Australia following the Olympic Games.

‘The Olympic Games opened the world’s eyes to more of Australia helping to stimulate world wide interest in our country, people and culture.The ATC has now been working with industry partners to capitalise on the Games through 90 tourism campaigns offering holiday deals to Australia.

‘This is definitely the lull before the storm,’ he said. ‘The outlook for our industry is strong with international visitor arrivals to Australia expected to break the 5 million visitor mark next year.’

Mr Morse said the Americas continued to grow strongly with a 12.5 per cent increase in visitors arrivals in August 2000 compared to August 1999.

‘Visitor arrivals from the United States were up by 6.6 per cent; Canada up by 29.5 per cent and Latin America up by 73 per cent in August 2000 compared to August 1999,’ Mr Morse said.

‘Overall visitor arrivals from Asia were up by 5.2 per cent including growth from Korea (up 35.4 per cent), China (up 36.4 per cent) and Malaysia (up 12.5 per cent) in August 2000 compared to the same time last year.

‘Australia’s number one tourist market, New Zealand remained steady with 73,700 visitors to Australia in August, up by 1.2 per cent.’

‘Despite a decline in visitor arrivals from the UK (down 5.7 per cent) the figures show strong growth from a number of European markets including the Netherlands (up 15.8 per cent) and Sweden (up 7.4 per cent) in August 2000 compared to August 1999.

Mr Morse said the ATC’s Annual Report for 1999/2000 tabled today in Parliament showed Australia continued to outperform the world in tourism growth.

‘Visitor arrivals to Australia grew by 8.5 per cent last financial year, about double the world average, while visitor expenditure in Australia topped $8.9 billion,’ he said.’Australia also gained market share in 19 out of 25 major tourism markets.’

Media contact:
Olivia Wirth, ATC
Tel: (02) 9361 1307 or (0417) 294 973

Note: The ABS OAD August figures released today are preliminary data
only.