Tourists keen to venture NT way
THE Northern Territory has had a steady increase in tourism during the past year.
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THE Northern Territory has had a steady increase in tourism during the past year.
Visitor figures were up 2 per cent in the year ending March, with expenditure reaching a 7 per cent increase.
According to the latest International Visitor Survey released by Tourism Research Australia this month, the NT had 263,671 visitors who spent $396 million.
Tourism Top End general manager Trevor Cox said the Territory could expect another successful season, with tourist numbers increasing already.
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“The start to the season has been promising,” Mr Cox said.
He said accommodation was stronger than in previous years and he expects there to be enough rooms for peak tourist time, especially with the opening of Signatures on Woods (originally Soho) in September.
Mr Cox said the ratio of interstate to international tourists usually stayed around 80:20, and he expected it to remain that way.
“We’re not seeing anything that’s not suggesting otherwise,” Mr Cox said.
During the year ending March 2014, the number of international visitors aged 15 years and over arriving in Australia reached a record 6 million for the first time.
Nationally, China was the biggest spender for Australia, increasing finance by 17 per cent. This was followed by Great Britain with 12 per cent, the US at 9 per cent, New Zealand at 8 per cent and Japan spending 5 per cent.
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While not many of them venture to the Territory, Kiwis made up the highest proportion of visitors to Australia, with 1.09 million of them crossing the ditch for a holiday.
That figure was up 1 per cent from 2013.
Despite spending the most money, Chinese only had 697,000 visitors but that figure increased by 14 per cent from last year.
Nights increased 2 per cent to 29.9 million and trip expenditure increased 15 per cent to $5.1 billion.
Other markets showing strong increases in visitor numbers were Malaysia (up 15 per cent) and Singapore (up 13 per cent) while Hong Kong, Thailand and India increased 10 per cent during the year.
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Numbers from Japan continued to fall with visitor numbers down 5 per cent, while nights and expenditure fell by 11 per cent.
Tourism Research Australia’s chief economist, Dr Leo Jago, said that while Chinese tourist growth continued to underpin Australia’s inbound performance, it was positive to see record numbers of visitors continued to arrive from the US.
European markets are also showing a strong recovery.
KEY FINDINGS:
● Visitation for employment fell with visitor numbers down 7 per cent to 222,000.
● Employment nights fell 12 per cent to 26.2 million and trip expenditure fell 8 per cent to $2.2 billion.
● Group tour visitor increased 7 per cent to 511,000.
● The number of travellers who visited state or national parks increased 8 per cent to 2.5 million.
● Visitors who participated in whale or dolphin watching increased by 9 per cent to 524,000 while those who visited wildlife parks, zoos or aquariums increased 7 per cent to 2 million.
● Over half of visitors (54 per cent) travelled unaccompanied.
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