Australia is now suffering from the fact that many Australians are opting to spend their holiday time outside of the world’s smallest continent. Despite the increasing influx of tourists, Australia is certainly worse off in terms of tourism than it was one year ago.
Australia used to have almost everything its own way in the tourism sector. It was the world’s number one brand, as people of all races wore Australia flags and pictures of kangaroos all over the globe. The locals used to have no reason to wish to spend their holiday time outside of Australia and it was almost always near the top of peoples’ dream places to visit. Many of these elements are still true, some have slightly changed and one has changed dramatically.
To the small change: The USA and Canada have leapfrogged Australia into first and second place in the brand rankings as maple leaves and baseball caps have replaced the kangaroos and koalas. The good news is that Australia is experiencing a greater deal of inbound tourism. Inbound tourism is 6.5% up on last year and Australia’s campaigns to market its unique features continue to be successful.
This is, however, the end of the good news as we discover that 20% of Australians are now leaving their land to spend their cash elsewhere. There are a number of reasons for this trend. One is the fact that the Australian dollar has gained in strength even in times of crisis, meaning that Australians can afford more when they are abroad. On top of this, the price changes in Australia do not particularly reflect the harsh economical climate. Whereas the global financial crisis has led to a drop of 5.1% of the price of holidays on a global scale, prices in Australia have dropped by a mere 2.6%.
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