Australian tourism is set to benefit from significant inbound growth from India and China in the first quarter of 2012, with domestic demand expected to finally stabilise, according to new research.
Deloitte Access Economics' Tourism and Hotel Market Outlook for 2012 predicted that aggregate expenditure from Chinese visitors would exceed that from the UK and New Zealand combined by 2014, and that Chinese visitors would account for 35% of growth in international visitor nights between 2010 and 2015.
However, it identified a key challenge for the industry as learning how to capitalise on the "travel desires" of visitors from these emerging Asian economies.
It also confirmed other issues for the sector as the strong Australian dollar, economic uncertainty in traditional inbound markets and local skills shortages.
Analyst Lachlan Smirl confirmed that the Australian economy remained "relatively robust," and would remain strong provided that the global economy did not significantly deteriorate.
"However, as far as the multi-speed economy is concerned, Australian tourism continues to be in a slower lane," Smirl said.
"While the outlook is good for the business side of the domestic tourism market on the back of a relatively solid domestic economy, that strength is also driving strong outbound leisure travel."
The report projected that international tourism arrivals would grow 2.7% in 2012, 4.7% in 2013 and 4.9% in 2014.
