'India likely to be 7th largest source of visitors into Aus'

India is expected to be the seventh largest source market for visitor arrivals into Australia by 2025, a senior Tourism Australia official today said.
The country is already on the way of achieving its 2020 target of three lakh visitors from India in 2017.
"India is expected to be among top seven inbound markets for Australia by 2025. It could be the seventh largest source market for arrivals by 2025," Tourism Australia Country Head India and Gulf Nishant Kashikar told PTI.
India currently is the ninth top source market for Australia in terms of visitor arrivals, he added.
"In terms of spend, India could be the fifth top inbound markets by 2025. Currently average spend per person per visit from India is close to 5,200 Australian dollars", Kashikar said.

Average length of the stay of visitors from India is close to two months, he added.

"Leisure including visiting friends and relatives and holidays constitutes close to 68 per cent of the total arrivals from India. The other categories include people visiting the country for business, education and employment", Kashikar said.
On being asked about the initiatives, Tourism Australia is taking to promote Australia in India, Kashikar said as air connectivity is a major game changer as far as tourism is concerned they are in talks with various airlines including Air India, Jet Airways and Qantas Airways for increased connectivity.

The other initiatives include "the focus on content both on the traditional mediums and on the digital medium. We are also engaging with travel trade partners including around 3,500 Aussie specialist travel agents", he added.
Online submission of visa applications for Indian passport holders is another very important step that has been recently taken, Kashikar said.
Tourism Australia is the Australian government agency responsible for attracting international visitors to Australia, both for leisure and business events.