Sydney (Tribune International): NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell today said NSW was experiencing a Chinese tourism boom, giving
the State’s tourism-related industries every reason to be optimistic about the year ahead.
Mr O’Farrell said NSW ends the year as Australia’s most popular destination for both domestic and international visitors – with recent figures showing visitors from China have increased 18 per cent in the past year.
“China has passed New Zealand to top the list of international tourists to NSW,” Mr O’Farrell said.
“We expect the trend to only gain momentum in 2014 so it should be a great year for our tourism operators, as well as hotels, restaurants, retailers and taxis.
“In the past year Chinese airlines have increased the frequency and capacity of their flights to Sydney – every seat that’s occupied on a flight from Shanghai, Guangzhou or Beijing is great news for jobs and economic growth in NSW.
“The most recent International and National Visitor Survey showed Chinese tourists stayed more than 11.6 million nights and contributed $1.4 billion to the NSW economy – an increase of $178.5 million on the previous year.
“China has a massive middle class that increasingly wants to travel overseas for holidays – our China Tourism Strategy forecasts by 2020, Chinese tourism will be worth $2.1 billion annually to the NSW economy and directly support 13,900 jobs.
“We will keep aggressively marketing NSW in China to ensure we are the first choice for Chinese families when they are making their holiday plans.
“The NSW Government’s tourism strategies such as our investment in major events are working – with NSW showing significant pick-up in the numbers of visitors, nights spent here and expenditure.
“In the year to September, NSW saw a 10.4 per cent increase in domestic holidaymakers and a 14.3 per cent increase in holiday spending.
“We remain the most popular State for international holidaymakers, recording significant growth in holiday visitor numbers (up by 8.2 per cent), nights (up by 7.5 per cent) and spending (up by 12.7 per cent).
“NSW is the main driver of growth for the entire country – achieving almost double the national average growth in expenditure.
“Our focus on doubling overnight expenditure by 2020 continues to gather momentum and generate strong returns. NSW was the only State in Australia to record growth above the national average increase in visitors, nights and expenditure for the year ended September 2013.
“Part of the NSW Government’s strategy has been to work with airlines to increase direct services and capacity to Sydney.
“This is already paying dividends with an increase in tourists from India of 9.4 per cent, with expenditure up 16.9 per cent with new direct services from Air India’s daily triangulated services to Sydney and Melbourne.
“Malaysia and Singapore also boosted visitors as a result of the introduction of new services by AirAsia X and Scoot services secured for Sydney by the NSW Government.
“The former Labor Government squandered a once in a lifetime opportunity after the Sydney Olympics – the NSW Liberals & Nationals Government is getting on with the job of helping our tourism industry reach its potential.”
NSW Fast Facts – Survey Highlights Y/Ended Sept 2013
| More visitors | 28.5 million visitors (international and national data combined) |
| Staying more nights | 155.3 million nights (international and national data combined) |
| Spending more | $21.6 billion (international and national data combined) |
| More holiday makers | 12.7% increase in holiday maker spend (international) adding $255 million in expenditure (international)14.3% increase in holiday maker spend (domestic) adding $850 million in expenditure (domestic) |
| International Visitor Growth markets |
|
| Western market growth | France – up 11.2%UK – up 4.4%
USA – up 3.8% |
