Almost 1.4 million visitors from Mainland China travelled to Australia last year, representing a 13% jump from a year earlier, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Tourist arrivals from India grew by 15%, bringing 302,900 visitors over the period.
Chinese and Indian tourists arrived in record numbers to Australia last year as growing middle-class wealth in the world’s two most populous nations fuels the travel bug.
Almost 1.4 million visitors from Mainland China travelled to Australia last year, representing a 13% jump from a year earlier, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Tourist arrivals from India grew by 15%, bringing 302,900 visitors over the period.
“While much of the focus has been on Chinese tourism, Indian visitors are coming Down Under in their droves,” said Ryan Felsman, a senior economist at the securities unit of Commonwealth Bank of Australia in a Bloomberg media report.
“Most are coming to visit family members studying in Sydney and Melbourne. Cricket pilgrimages to the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Bradman Museum in Bowral are also a priority,” he added.
The country’s decline in currency from its 2011 peak during the mining boom has attracted an influx of visitors since, with local operators grappling to refurbish outdated tourism infrastructure or build new facilities in response to the influx.
Trips to the island state of Tasmania among Chinese visitors have soared 40% in the year through September, and there has been calls for direct flights to connect Mainland Chinese and the state capital, Hobart, according to Felsman.
“China and India’s growing and more affluent middle class are attracted to Australia’s clean and unique environment, high quality restaurants and hotels, fresh food, safe cities, museums, art galleries and warm weather,” he said.