High Demand for Australian Tourism Visas

[Guest The Pom Queen]

According to figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released on October 6, demand for Australian tourist visas is riding high despite the global economic downturn due to a growing interest from Asia.

 

 

 

The ABS report showed that the number of overall short-term visitors to the country increases by 3.4% in August 2011, compared with August 2010. The Australian Government pronounced the figures as encouraging considering the global economic downturn and show that the increase in demand for Australian tourist visas is mostly accounted for by the Asian market.

 

"The tourism industry is expanding beyond traditional markets to include new ones in Asia, which continue to grow strongly," said Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson in a joint statement with the Minister Assisting on Tourism Nick Sherry.

 

He also stated that the figures bring optimism about the tourism industry's future, which is considered to be not looking so bright because of recent reform to Australia's immigration regulations. The figures are a further reminder about the potential tourists from Asia, including China and Australia's neighbours in South-East Asia such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

 

The report indicates that Indonesian visitors applying for Australian visa doubled, arrivals from Malaysia were up by 34%, and arrivals from China rose by 21%.

 

Meanwhile, the number of Europeans wishing to come to Australia is down by 3.9% and arrivals from the United States and Canada decreased by 4.4% and 5.0% respectively. The ministerial statement said this decrease in demand can be attributed to the "weak economic conditions" currently being suffered in these traditional markets.

 

Senator Sherry - who is Minister for Small Business in the current Government - also said the expected continuing rise of Asian demand for travel to Australia will have implications for the tourism industry in terms of employment.

 

He said "By 2015, our tourism industry may need as many as 56,000 extra workers, making the labour market even tighter," and stated that offering employees career-development paths was one of the best ways for employers to hold onto existing staff and attract recruits. "The Labour and Skills Working Group add value to that task," added he.