13 July 2016

Canberra welcomes record international visitors

| Michael Reid
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Andrew Barr has welcomed a tourism survey that indicates Canberra recorded its highest ever number of international visitors in the year to March 2016, with almost 200,000 overseas travellers visiting the capital in that period.

In a statement, the chief minister said the international visitor survey prepared by Tourism Research Australia showed the ACT recorded its highest number of international visitors (199,771), visitor nights and expenditure.

He said the “fantastic results” reflected the government’s efforts to attract more international visitors through VisitCanberra’s One Good Thing After Another marketing positioning.

According to the survey, Canberra’s international visitor numbers increased by 12.8 per cent on 2015, above the 8.9 per cent national average, and representing the highest growth of all states and territories. Growth across the holiday, visiting friends and relatives, business and education sectors all contributed to this increase, Mr Barr said.

Visitor nights increased to 5.15 million for the year ending March 2016, representing an increase of 17.9 per cent, above the national average of 7.6 per cent.

Visitors are also staying longer, with the average length of stay growing by 4.5 per cent to 25.8 nights, bucking the national trend of a 1.2 per cent decline.

International visitor expenditure grew to $409 million, representing an increase of 13.6 percent. This is the first time international expenditure has cracked the $400 million mark and will help us achieve our goal of growing the visitor economy to $2.5 billion by 2020.

China remains the ACT’s largest international visitor market, recording an increase of 30.6 per cent, while there was strong growth also in the United Kingdom (16.8 per cent), New Zealand (16.2 per cent) and United States of America (16.1 per cent) markets.

Barr said the first direct international flights from Canberra to Wellington and Singapore from September would provide a further boost to visitor numbers.

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No_Nose said :

bj_ACT said :

Mordd said :

Mordd said :

I would like to know how Tourism Australia sources its data to determine these figures.

I think the clue is in the name “Tourism Research Australia”.

http://www.tra.gov.au

The methodology is here: http://tra.gov.au/aboutus/international-visitor-survey.html
It’s a bit nebulous given only 40000 are surveyed.

“only”?

That’s a huge number for a survey.

We are talking about a small percentage of the number of people that travel in and out of Australia, not the number of people that may use the Canberra light rail.

bj_ACT said :

Mordd said :

Mordd said :

I would like to know how Tourism Australia sources its data to determine these figures.

I think the clue is in the name “Tourism Research Australia”.

http://www.tra.gov.au

The methodology is here: http://tra.gov.au/aboutus/international-visitor-survey.html
It’s a bit nebulous given only 40000 are surveyed.

“only”?

That’s a huge number for a survey.

Mordd said :

Mordd said :

I would like to know how Tourism Australia sources its data to determine these figures.

I think the clue is in the name “Tourism Research Australia”.

http://www.tra.gov.au

The methodology is here: http://tra.gov.au/aboutus/international-visitor-survey.html
It’s a bit nebulous given only 40000 are surveyed.

Mordd said :

I would like to know how Tourism Australia sources its data to determine these figures.
If somehow they have access to movement/destination data from government agencies then it could be accurate but it would also include foreign students studying in Canberra. Indeed, education sectors are mentioned in the article.
According to student numbers at Australian universities http”//www.australianuniversities.com.au/directory/student-numbers/ there were 9377 (plus ACU) international students attending Canberra universities in 2014.
Let’s say10000 and this would be doubled on an annual basis because most would return home for vacation so it is a bit of a stretch to call them “visitors” in the context of a tourism focus.
Similarly, people coming to Canberra on business and “friends and relatives” can hardly be called tourists either so lets have some reality in these claims by showing what percentage of the visitors are actually international tourists.
I avoid being cynical as far as possible but this statement from the Chief Minister sound more like election year spin than an accolade for “VisitCanberra’s One Good Thing After Another” marketing campaign (which I had never heard of before).

Barr has referred to international visitors, not tourists, even though the data came from the tourism authority. So, no, I’d say these aren’t tourist figures …

Mordd said :

I would like to know how Tourism Australia sources its data to determine these figures.

I think the clue is in the name “Tourism Research Australia”.

http://www.tra.gov.au

I would like to know how Tourism Australia sources its data to determine these figures.
If somehow they have access to movement/destination data from government agencies then it could be accurate but it would also include foreign students studying in Canberra. Indeed, education sectors are mentioned in the article.
According to student numbers at Australian universities http”//www.australianuniversities.com.au/directory/student-numbers/ there were 9377 (plus ACU) international students attending Canberra universities in 2014.
Let’s say10000 and this would be doubled on an annual basis because most would return home for vacation so it is a bit of a stretch to call them “visitors” in the context of a tourism focus.
Similarly, people coming to Canberra on business and “friends and relatives” can hardly be called tourists either so lets have some reality in these claims by showing what percentage of the visitors are actually international tourists.
I avoid being cynical as far as possible but this statement from the Chief Minister sound more like election year spin than an accolade for “VisitCanberra’s One Good Thing After Another” marketing campaign (which I had never heard of before).

dungfungus said :

And once the light rail is operational all our visitors will marvel at how modern this city has become!

It’ll be like going back in time.
Wonder how many of those 200,000 will take the light rail only to find out it goes nowhere exciting.
Then see all the cultural institutions and find them closed due to cuts.

And once the light rail is operational all our visitors will marvel at how modern this city has become!

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