Australia bullish on Indian tourists

Tourism Australia is positive about the growth of Indian tourists to Australia.

During May 2011, Australia saw around 14,700 visitors from India, taking the total for the five months to May to 64,900, an increase of 10.6 per cent compared with the same period last year. The total for the six months to June this year stood at 76,200, up 8 per cent over last year.

“We are targeting around 153,000 tourists by the end of this year,” Nishant Kashikar, country manager (India), Tourism Australia, said.

An Indian tourist spends on average $6,511. Of the total tourists, VFR (visiting family and friends) contributes the highest, i.e. 33 per cent, followed by business travellers (20 per cent) and those on vacation (19 per cent). The rest is a mix of students, MICE and other leisure travellers, he said.

“In the last financial year, Indian visitors had spent $884 million Australian dollar, and this year we expect the spending to touch $1 billion Australian dollars,” Kashikar said.

The inbound tourists from India is seeing an upward growth — in 2009 it grew 9 per cent, and this year there was 11.5 per cent growth over last year. “As part of our 2020 target, we expect around 318,000 tourists from India per annum and expect an average growth of 8.6 per cent,” he said.

India ranks 11 in the inbound market for arrivals as on December, 2010. Around 2-3 per cent of Australian population belong to the Indian diaspora. “We are also targeting the high networth individuals segment here.”

Lashikar was here for the four-day India Travel Mission 2011, a Tourism Australia’s annual trade show on the outbound travel industry.