According to Tourism Australia approximately 786,000 business and conference tourists came to Australia last year which was an increase of seven per cent on 2005. And thank goodness they did because general tourism is going nowhere fast.
At mice.net magazine’s last editorial advisory board meeting a question was asked on what the true and correct latest tourism figures are, with the individual saying they had had conflicting reports. Tourism Australia figures say that Australia had a 0.6 per cent increase of tourists in 2006. The World Tourism Organisation, however, says that Australia has seen a minus 1.1 per cent drop in tourism numbers.
Establishing which figure is correct is not really necessary. The fact of the matter is that the Australian tourism industry is in a bad state of affairs. In fact, Australia is currently the world’s worst performing tourism market, again according to the World Tourism Organisation.
If Australia did have a 0.6 per cent increase in tourism numbers in 2006 it really pales into insignificance when you compare that with South Africa’s recent announcement that the country had a 14.5 per cent increase in tourists between January and September 2006. And India is also a star performer. Figures just released have recorded the country had 4.4 million arrivals in 2006. For the record Australia’s 2006 arrivals figures was 5.5 million.
Northern Ireland (that place where nobody used to go because of political unrest) has had a compound average growth rate of 4.7 per cent in visitor numbers since 2001, outperforming the European average of three per cent during that time.
And what of the Middle East? Tourism numbers to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates grew by a staggering 12 per cent (1.34 million) in 2006 compared to 2005, and Dubai is already seeing more than five million tourists arrive per annum. Indeed, Dubai is now forecasting beyond its 15 million target by 2010.
The other big mover and shaker is most definitely China and South East Asia as a whole. The World Tourism Organisation says this region has seen a 16.6 per growth in tourism numbers in 2006 compared to 2005. And if you don’t believe it why don’t you go and apply for a Chinese visa in your city and see how many people are lining up (out the door) to do the same.
Australia’s tourism figures are, quite simply, pathetic. In any other industry the media would be all over it. But sadly, despite being a huge earner for this country and employing many thousands of people, it has barely rated a mention.
All I can say is thank God for business events!
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