The Australian Bureau of Statistics has reported that Australia received more short-term visitors than ever in October. The Australian tourism industry recorded over 713,300 more visitors than the previous year, an improvement of 12.7%.
That increase in short-term visitors takes the year’s total to over 8 million visitors, with an increase of 819,800 arrivals (or 11.2%) since October 2015.
The higher Australian dollar, which makes goods and services more expensive for visitors, has not affected the rate of short-term arrivals. The chart below from Business Insider illustrates the strong growth of the tourism industry.
Surprisingly, South Korea represented the highest growth rate with an increase of 28.4% on the past year, while Japan and China saw a visitor increase of 21.8% and 20.5% respectively. However, the chart illustrates the strong growth rates of arrivals from the USA (perhaps looking for a new home after Trump’s election), with 106,000 visitors more than 2015. China’s short-term visitors remained the most numerous, however, with an increase of 204,000 visitors.
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