Chinese tourism growth into Australia continued its dramatic decline in December with a snail-like 1.5% year on year increase in arrivals according to the latest ABS stats. Contrast that with the 20% plus gains that have been standard for the past few years.
No comment from Tourism Australia but its NZ counterpart says the slump is due to a sharp increase in holiday prices caused by the China Travel Law, introduced on October 1, which demands minimum tour standards.
Total inbound was up 7.5% compared with the previous year while outbound grew 8% year on year.
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Hi Martin, if you’d asked Tourism Australia for a comment, we’d happily have obliged…
We’ve actually known about the Tourism Law for a while now, and always knew that it would have implications, particularly on the group tour market, when it came into force in October 2013. November saw a monthly drop in Chinese arrivals, but the numbers were back into positive territory for December.
Despite the November monthly fall , Chinese arrivals are up 14.2 per cent for the year and we are confident Chinese visitors will respond positively to the overall improvement in the quality of tours to Australia.
Anecdotal feedback so far suggests a ‘tale of two markets’ – declines in the group market, being off-set by a robust independent traveller market, a trend which aligns perfectly with our China strategy and which Australia is very well placed to take advantage of.
In fact, we are already seeing positive signs of a change in the visitor mix from China, based on visa types being applied for and issued – a shift to a more independent, higher spending Chinese visitor, enjoying higher quality visitor experiences.
We actually support the reforms, aimed at ensuring Chinese visitors have a quality and value for money tourism experience when they visit Australia.
The Chinese consumer that we’re targeting here in Australia is the more affluent, independent traveller, and we’re confident that we have a strong tourism offering which will continue to appeal to this lucrative market.
Thanks for the update Leo. I’m sure TA is across the decline in Chinese growth – interesting twist – but there’s been no official commentary whereas Kevin Bowler from TNZ referenced it when announcing recent record visitations. To be honest thought the lack of comment from TA a little strange given that the Chinese visitor growth has been so hyped by the organisation.
Hi Martin. We commented on it extensively in the media (AFR, The Australia, Guardian etc.) last month, when November’s ABS were released, indicating a monthly drop in Chinese arrivals. If you want comment, you know where we are. We haven’t had any media queries about the issue off the back of yesterday’s ABS figures, hence no commentary. The fact that this month’s figures show US arrivals have reached record, all time highs seemed more newsworthy.
By the way Martin, Chinese arrivals are actually up 14.2% this past calendar year – 715,300, up 14.4%. Last year (2012), we received 626,400 Chinese visitors, up 15.6%. So pretty similar level of growth. ‘Snail-like’?
Hi Leo, 1.5% snail like growth in December following a sluggish November (3.9%) provides a sharp contrast with the previous high Chinese growth levels, which is what the story was about. It’s a new trend caused by the China Travel Law and one worth highlighting. No doubt China will gain momentum again but the game has clearly changed for the world most important tourism growth market. Let’s see what happens with Chinese New Year.
Chinese New Year is always a good barometer of the health of the Chinese inbound market. Just be aware of the timing of this year’s lunar festival, straddling January and February, which will lead to some interesting distortions when compared to those same months last year. That and the fact that next month sees the first results of changes by the ABS to how they report their figures…