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The first
official Australian tourism arrival figures released since the US
terrorist attacks indicate a 12 per cent decline in international
visitor arrivals to Australia during September 2001, Australian Tourist
Commission Managing Director Ken Boundy said today.
Speaking following the release of the Australian Bureau of Statistics,
preliminary September 2001 figures, Australian Tourist Commission (ATC)
Managing Director, Ken Boundy said the figures show the first signs of
the impact of the US terrorist attacks on inbound tourism to Australia.
"The figures indicate that around 358,000 international visitor arrivals
to Australia in September 2001 - a drop of around 50,000 visitors
compared to September 2000," he said.
"The next three months will be tough for the industry with international
visitor arrivals expected to decline this year - the first decline since
the Asian financial crisis in 1998.
"The first three months of 2002 are also a concern, with holiday
bookings for this period significantly down compared to the same time
last year. Feedback from some operators indicates a decline in holiday
bookings between 20 to 40 per cent for this period next year."
"Today's figures show visitor arrivals from the US fell by 55 per cent
in September 2001 due to the strong growth in arrivals during the
Olympic month last year as well as cancellations in flights and holiday
bookings in the last few weeks of September.
"The figures also indicate a seven per cent decline in visitor arrivals
from New Zealand, our number one tourism market in September 2001 due to
the collapse of Ansett which disrupted flights across the Tasman as well
as the impact US terrorist attacks.
"However, September last year was an abnormal month for inbound arrivals
to Australia due to the Sydney Olympic Games which delivered strong
growth from markets such as the US (up 97 per cent in Sept 2000 compared
to Sept 1999) and led to declines in visitor arrivals from other tourism
markets including the UK (down 14 per cent) and Japan (down 13.3 per
cent). Despite this abnormal month, visitor arrivals from the US and NZ
in September 2001 were down compared to visitor arrivals in September
1999."
Mr Boundy said despite the overall decline in visitor arrivals during
September 2001, visitor arrivals from some markets showed growth during
the month including the United Kingdom, Asia and Japan.
"Visitor arrivals from Europe dropped by 18 per cent to 86,300 visitors
during September 2001," he said. "However, the UK did not follow this
trend with visitor arrivals growing by nearly 10 per cent. The UK is
expected to be one of the most resilient tourism markets, and ATC is
working with industry partners to look at strategies to maintain our
market share.
"Visitor arrivals from Japan, Australia's second largest tourism market
also grew during September, up 6.5 per cent compared to September last
year. However, growth in arrivals from this market, particularly group
travel are expected to be impacted in the next few months due to the
recent events
"Visitor arrivals from Asia were also up by 20 per cent in September
2001 compared September last year, including growth from key markets in
the region such as Singapore (up 26.1 per cent) and China (up 52.4 per
cent).
Mr Boundy said the uncertainty around the globe and the ongoing campaign
against terrorism would continue to impact on Australia's inbound
tourism industry in the short to medium term. |
