Today the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the contribution Tourism has on Australia’s economy that has grown 4.4 per cent over the last year.
The growth was driven by the increased international visitors to Australia, particularly those from Asia while domestic tourism consumption grew by 2.1 per cent.
Direct tourism gross domestic product increased 2.5 per cent (or $0.9 billion) to $34.6 billion. Tourism’s share of total GDP was lower at 2.5 per cent (down from 2.6 per cent in 2009-10) as the Australian economy grew at a faster rate.
The Australian tourism industry has been coping with a strong Australian dollar, the fierce competition from overseas investors and the natural disasters experienced earlier this year in Queensland, Japan and New Zealand.
The Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson, said these were robust figures given the volatile market for global travel.
“Australian tourism businesses are holding up well in the face of intense global competition, currency movements, economic turmoil and natural disasters,” Minister Ferguson said.
“Tourism is Australia’s largest services export industry and these figures show that its success matters to the whole economy.”
