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Tourism one of the Nation’s Key Industries
Australia’s popularity as a holiday destination is soaring with international visitor arrivals tipped to reach almost five million in 2004. The tourism industry is one the nation’s key industries, contributing significantly to job creation, export earnings and regional development.
Tourism Outlook
Australia’s tourism outlook is bright with strong growth in key markets expected. The Tourism Forecasting Council predicts that Australia will attract 10.2 million international visitors in 2010. By 2010 around 890,000 visitors from the United States are expected to visit Australia, representing an average annual growth of 7.1 per cent.
Emerging Asian markets are expected to grow at an average annual rate of 12.4 per cent to 2010, with 4.4 million visitors coming to Australia in 2010. There will be a strong surge from emerging markets such as China and Korea. China is set to become one of Australia’s strongest markets with annual growth rate forecasts of 25.2 per cent to 2010. Korea is expected to increase 18.3 per cent a year to 2010.
Visitor numbers from the United Kingdom are expected to increase 6.2 per cent a year to 2010, when more than one million visitors from the UK are expected to come to Australia.
Australia’s largest source of international visitors, New Zealand, is forecast to have an annual growth rate of 2.1 per cent, while arrivals from Japan are expected to increase by 4.3 per cent each year to 2010.
Strong interest in Australia as a tourist destination is reflected in reports by Australia’s international tourism promoter, the Australian Tourist Commission, that traffic on the internet site australia.com increased by more than 100 per cent on the previous year. Almost 19 million pages of information were delivered to users in more than 220 countries.
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Size of the Industry
Formal recognition of the economic significance of Australia’s tourism industry took a big step forward with the launch of the Australian Tourism Satellite Account (ATSA) in October 2000. Nearly $1 million in Federal Government funding has been provided to develop a comprehensive snapshot of the industry in 1997-98. The ATSA gives an official, first-time measure of tourism’s contribution to the Australian economy.
Data from the ATSA, show the size, structure and characteristics of Australia’s tourism industry, and will assist with planning and development within the industry by private and public sector organisations. The main results from the ATSA follow.
= In 2002-2003, tourists consumed a total of $71 billion in goods and services nationally in 1997-98. Of this total consumption, 76% ($54 billion) was by domestic visitors and 24% ($17 billion) was by international visitors.
= Tourism’s economic contribution (4.5% value added) was higher than agriculture, forestry and fishing (3.3%), communication services (3.2%) and electricity, gas and water (2.7%), and slightly lower than mining (4.7%).
= Tourism in Australia contributed relatively more to the economy than was the case in the United States or Canada.
= The industry directly employed 549,000 persons, representing 5.9% of total employment. While tourism is a relatively labour intensive industry many of the jobs are part-time and this figure converts to an equivalent of 416,142 persons employed full-time.
Tourism Investment
Australia is the dynamic global investment destination in the Asia Pacific region. Comprising just 0.3 per cent of the world’s population, Australia is the fourteenth largest economy in the world, the eleventh largest in the OECD and the fourth largest in Asia.
Driven by one of the best productivity growth ratios in the world Australia is well positioned to take full advantage of the electronic age.
Australia is an internationalised economy with a strong financial system, sound economic fundamentals, certainty, investment-friendly State, Territory and Federal Governments and a commitment to free trade.
There are few barriers to setting up a tourism business or investing in an existing business. Australia has liberal laws governing foreign investment in tourism infrastructure. Most restrictions on foreign investment in Australia relate to acquisitions of real estate for private residential purposes.
In the case of tourism investment, the residential real estate restrictions are relaxed if the proposed residential investment forms part of a designated, integrated tourism resort. One example would be investment incorporating tourist accommodation and recreational facilities such as golf courses.
Of course any investments following immigration do not have to be approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board. You may invest in the same way as any other Australian.
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