Tourism expenditure in Australia exceeds 75 bln USD for 1st time

Foreign and domestic tourists spent more than 75 billion U.S. dollars in Australia for the first time in 2016, the nation's trade minister said.

Trade Minister Steven Ciobo released the National Visitor Survey for 2016 on Wednesday, saying that on the back of 5.6 billion Australian dollars' (4.28 billion U.S. dollars) worth of growth, visitor expenditure exceeded 100 billion Australian dollars (76 billion U.S. dollars) for the first time.

While domestic tourists were still the biggest spenders, Ciobo said international tourists, such as those from China, were driving strong growth in international tourism expenditure.

"Today I release the National Visitor Survey for the year ending December 2016, which shows Australian visitors spent 61 billion Australian dollars (46.6 billion U.S. dollars)," Ciobo said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The recently released International Visitor Survey showed international visitors spent 39.1 billion Australian dollars (30 billion U.S. dollars) in the same 12 month period."

Ciobo said enticing more visitors, not only from Australia but also from overseas nations, would ensure that tourism continues to play a major part in Australia's economy.

"This record spending is creating Australian jobs," Ciobo said.

"Tourism is a 120 billion Australian dollar (92 billion U.S. dollar) industry that employs around 1 in 12 Australians, so this growth in holiday spending means more jobs, more investment and more prosperity for all Australians, especially those in regional Australia, where 45 percent of tourist dollars are spent."

"Over the past three years, every state and territory has seen double digit growth in visitor numbers and visitor nights, with the Northern Territory the standout performer."

In Australia, the number of locals taking overnight trip for a holiday increased 6 percent to 37.1 million trips, while day trips were up 11 percent to 92.8 million. Endit