Recovery of Australia's key tourism markets remained mixed following the events of last year, with some countries not expected to recover until 2003, ATC Managing Director, Ken Boundy said today.
Speaking at the Australian Tourism Exchange in Brisbane, Mr Boundy said while there were signs the impact of the events of September was abating, some markets remained flat and the industry was facing key challenges in the short term.
"It is clear that the industry is not in full recovery mode - growth is patchy," he said. "And while the picture is more positive than nine months ago, we are still facing the challenge of returning tourism growth to previous levels in a far more competitive environment.
"Australia's tourism industry will continue to be impacted by the events of 2001 for the next few years, with some markets taking considerably longer to recover.
"The changing consumer travelling trends, increased competition from other destinations combined with the decline in air services to Australia and the lack of a Star Alliance domestic carrier will continue to challenge the industry in coming months.
"Inbound arrivals for the first four months of the year are down by 4.8 per cent, with visitors dropping by 11.6 per cent in the month of April. This decline followed two months of growth in February and March - highlighting the instability in the global tourism market.
"Official forecasts predict international arrivals will increase by 4.7 per cent this year, however this will be difficult to achieve unless we have very strong growth in the next six months.
"The ATC will continue to work with our partners to actively promote Australia, help stimulate demand and increase our share the world's travel market."
Mr Boundy said Asian tourism markets, Korea and China remain healthy and continue to deliver double-digit growth, despite global events.
"However, Singapore, a market which has delivered significant tourism growth to Australia for the past decade, is flat with arrivals declining due to macroeconomic factors and low consumer confidence," he said.
"Performance of European markets is varied, with travel from Italy and Germany flat. Despite a drop in arrivals during April, the UK has been the most resilient market from this region with visitor arrivals growing for the first quarter this year.
"The prospects for the Japanese tourism market have improved and there are signs the market has stabilised with diminishing declines during the first few months of the year.
"The United States has bounced back quicker than initially expected, with strong consumer response to ATC advertising campaigns.
"While Australia is in an ideal position to increase market share in the US, air capacity is significantly down and this could potentially impact on arrival numbers. Currently we have 56 less non-stop services operating compared to this time last year, a decrease of 23 per cent.
"Arrivals from New Zealand are also down, however air capacity across the Tasman is slowly being reinstated with new services to commence during the second half of the year. These additional flights services, particularly to Queensland will assist in rebuilding the market.
Mr Boundy said that despite the uneven recovery of Australia's key tourism markets it was important for the industry to remain committed to all regions.
"We have learnt from previous events, such as the Asian financial crisis that recovery takes longer for some markets. As such it is crucial that Australia continues to have a presence in all markets to help stimulate further demand in travel," he said.
"The ongoing promotion of Australia is also needed to ensure we can compete with other destinations for a larger share of the world's global travel market."
The Community Attitudes Survey was conducted via a national telephone survey of people aged 14 years and over. Fieldwork was conducted between 25 March and 11 April, 2002. |
