Australia’s tourism industry is reeling from new statistics that could cost it up to $6 billion a year, as the number of Chinese visitors falls dramatically.
The number of Chinese travelers to Australia is now less than half the numbers recorded before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Tourism Research Australia.
In 2019, Chinese tourists injected more than $12 billion into the Australian economy, but their numbers are now so low that Qantas is scrapping its Sydney to Shanghai route due to lack of demand.
“Since Covid, travel demand between Australia and China has not recovered as strongly as expected,” said Qantas International chief executive Cam Wallace. news.com.auadding that their planes were often only half full.
The massive drop in Chinese visitors “has had a significant impact on the tourism industry”, Australian Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive Margy Osmond said.
Australia’s tourism industry is reeling from new statistics that could cost it up to $6 billion a year, as the number of Chinese visitors falls dramatically. Chinese tourists at the Sydney Opera House photograph
Tourists, including some from China, pictured watching the sun rise at Uluru.
Ms Osmond said before the pandemic, China was one of Australia’s largest sources of international tourism before the pandemic.
There has been a huge increase in domestic tourism within China in recent years, “but we are working hard to try to attract more Chinese visitors to come to Australia and we hope to see more Chinese visitors return to our shores,” Ms said .Osmond. .
The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that in March 2024, short-term Chinese visitor arrivals were just 47 percent of the March 2019 level.
Reverse tourism has also fallen, but much less: the number of Australians traveling to China is now 85 per cent of pre-Covid levels.
The previous boom in the number of Chinese travelers was a big boost to the economy, as they tended to spend a lot.
In 2019, Chinese visitors spent an average of $9,336 each in Australia, a total spend of $12.4 billion.
Tourists from other countries spent much less in the same year: Americans spent $5,130 (a total of $3.9 billion), visitors from the United Kingdom spent $4,999 (a total of $3.4 billion), and New Zealanders spent 2,004 dollars (a total of $2.6 billion).
A family from Shanghai, China, photographed among the waves at Bondi Beach, Sydney
Chinese tourists photographed in front of Sydney Harbor Bridge
But while the number of tourists coming to Australia from the US, UK, New Zealand and India has increased hugely since the end of the pandemic, the number from Chinese has not.
Experts say factors keeping Chinese tourist numbers low include political and trade tension that built up under former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, high airfares and China’s economy, which is not as strong as it used to be. last decade.
However, Tourism Australia believes things will improve before long.
“While travel with China reopened a year later than other markets (post-Covid), we are confident of its recovery as the market continues to rebuild steadily,” a spokesperson said.