AUSTRALIA - Foreign tourists stay longer in Australia and spend more

eTN, 7-12-2006

International visitors to Australia are staying longer and spending more, which was positive news for the tourism industry, the Australian Tourism Export Council said today.

ATEC Managing Director Matthew Hingerty, was commenting on today's release of Tourism Research
Australia's latest International Visitor Survey figures, which revealed a 12 percent increase in visitor nights and expenditure for the year ended September 2006.

"International visitors stayed 149.4 million nights in Australia and spent an average $2665 each while in the country in the year to September 30 2006 - up 12 percent on the previous year," Mr Hingerty said.

"Overall, international visitors contributed $18.9 billion to our economy, making tourism one of Australia's most important exports."
Mr Hingerty said the figures were good news, particularly in light of actual visitor numbers, which remained static at just over five million for the year - about the same as for the corresponding period in 2005.

"It is important to not just look at actual numbers as increases in volume without a corresponding increase in profits is not a sustainable outcome for the industry," he said.

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