China sending more than warships to Australia as visitor numbers overtake New Zealand

China has rocketed back to the top of Australia’s international visitor markets, representing a welcome windfall for tourism operators.

For the first time since Covid-19 struck, Chinese tourists have overtaken those from New Zealand to once again be Australia’s biggest source of overseas visitors.

Bureau of Statistics data showed 114,670 people from China arrived in Australia for a short term visit in January, at the same time as 96,250 New Zealanders.

The growth in short term arrivals from China was welcomed by Tourism Australia, given the Chinese traditionally spend almost twice as much as New Zealanders during a leisure trip — or $5081 as opposed to $2627.

Tourism Australia managing director Phillipa Harrison said the strength of the “lucrative” Chinese visitor market in January was good news for the industry, as was the overall improvement in international arrivals.

“The latest numbers show travellers are continuing to return to our shores in growing numbers,” said Ms Harrison.

Arrivals for January this year are up 17.6 per cent on January last year, and we are approaching full recovery, compared to what we experienced in 2019.

The US was the third-biggest source of overseas arrivals, followed by the UK and South Korea.

John O’Sullivan of adventure tourism company the Experience Co, said they had seen a welcome resurgence of Chinese tourists in specific locations in the last year, although overall numbers continued to lag 2019 levels.

“We certainly saw in locations like Wollongong, that the Chinese market was second behind the domestic market so it was certainly the lead market for us internationally,” said Mr O’Sullivan.

“Up on the Great Barrier Reef, and the experiences we run out of Cairns, we’ve seen over the course of the year continued consistent growth out of the Chinese market. They are coming back to our business in numbers.”

Heading in the other direction, Australians travelled abroad in record numbers at the start of the year, with more than a million people setting off for a short term trip.

The figure represented 115 per cent of pre-Covid-19 numbers, highlighting the strength of the outbound travel market.

Japan continues to grow in popularity among Australian travellers, cementing its place in our top three favourite holiday destinations. Picture: iStock

New Zealand again claimed the number one spot for short-term departures driven by the visiting friends and relatives market, with Bali second and Japan a strong third, relegating the US to sixth place.

Australian Travel Industry Association chief executive Dean Long said value-for-money destinations were performing very well, with travel to Thailand up 30 per cent and Japan 22 per cent stronger compared to the same time last year.

In contrast, travel to the US was relatively flat because the value was simply not there, he said.

“The problem with the US is the cost of doing business or travelling has just reached that point where the value discussion is very difficult,” said Mr Long.

“Hotels are too expensive in the US with the exchange rate, so the US has got some issues beyond what’s happening over on the east coast.”

As a result, the US and UK were the only two destinations in the top ten countries visited by Australians, yet to recover to 2019 levels. Mr Long said it all came down to price.

“Both have had high levels of inflation and an exchange rate that doesn’t help and as a result we’re seeing that money stay within Asia,” he said.

In response to the strong demand for Asia, Batik Air announced on Tuesday an expansion of its seasonal flights between Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur from July to year-round, using 377-seat A330-300s.

The services are in addition to the carrier’s Bali flights from Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth which will be upgraded from a 737 Max to A330 in peak periods to meet demand.

Although Batik Air was one of eight airlines flying to Bali from Australia, chief executive Chandran Rama Muthy said there had no trouble filling seats.

“The market is big for Bali,” he said.

“Bali is basically a weekend escape for Australians, everyone wants to go there, and we don’t really see much competition (for passengers).”

Originally published as China sending more than warships to Australia as visitor numbers overtake New Zealand