Indeed last year saw the Australian tourism industry suffer its sharpest decline in total tourist consumption since the 2003 SARS outbreak. A turnaround in 2010 is therefore expected in that the value of the tourism industry to the economy is set to increase by 3% to AUD 92 billion. Overseas arrivals to Australia has been fuelled significantly by strong growth from the U.S and Chinese markets, and where this growth is expected to rise 4.3% after performing above expectations during the GFC. Domestic tourism, which was hit by a 5.4% decline in 2009, is on the other hand, expected to pull out of its slump this year and grow in value by 2.9%. According to the chair of the Tourism Forecasting Committee, Bernard Salt, a solid recovery of 4.3% is a good figure for the new year, given the strong growth out of the US and China for 2010.

Given the trend, international travel to Australia is expected to rise 4.9% in 2011 and 4.7% in 2012, thanks to the global economic recovery and a release of pent-up demand. Outbound tourism will still, on the flip side, continue to outstrip inbound arrivals due to factors associated with cheap airfares and the rising value of the Australian dollar, a trend that began in 2008 and is expected to remain as such for at least a decade.

ITAP is made up of key indigenous tourism suppliers, a number of mainstream tourism operators, and representatives from both the online and ITO distribution system as well as Indigenous Business Australia (IBA). According to ATEC chairman, John King, with the assistance of the Indigenous Tourism Advisory Panel, is in a unique position to accomplish three things: firstly, increase the presence of indigenous tourism within the global distribution system; secondly, use mentoring, education, employment and training to bring a broader array of indigenous tourism products to export-ready standard and thirdly, to really bring indigenous tourism from a niche product to a core component of the unique Australian tourism experience.

ATEC has worked with Tourism Australia and IBA to organize the first export-ready Indigenous Tourism Champions workshop, where top-line operators were brought in to meet indigenous operators from around Australia to increase the presence of indigenous tourism products in international markets. As well as advising the ATEC National Board on indigenous tourism development programs, ITAP will also be able to initiate projects of its own, such as workshops or training programs.

This travel however comes at a cost to local tourism businesses. TTF executive director, Brett Gale, notes that these growing outbound visits reflect the gradual return of demand after a period of poor international arrivals and the substantial new aviation capacity which is available on key routes with more of those seats are being taken by Australians than tourists to Australia. The TTF director exemplifies this by noting that visitors from the United States are up an impressive 26%, although Australians visiting the US are up 46.7%. Indeed over the past 12 months Australians have made more than 6.1 million overseas trips.

As the outbound booms, the trend is that this continues to hurt domestic tourism, but more optimistically, opportunities are seen in that here are so many new airline seats available to bring overseas visitors into Australia though adopting extensive and rigorous international marketing that is capable of making a difference by taking advantage of returning confidence and aviation capacity.

Critics further note that as a response to the far more weighty Jackson Report submitted to the Minister of Tourism a few months earlier, the Long Term Tourism Strategy generates more questions than it addresses. As a strategic report it does not even bother to set a target date. Essentially the report contained nine key points namely: Positioning for Long Term Growth; Leadership; Research; Facilitating Investment and regulatory reform; Labor and Skills; Responding to Challenges; Excellence in Product and Service Delivery; Strengthening competitiveness with industry and product development and Measuring performance. Critics note that the issue which this report manifestly fails to address relates to means at which the country seeks to attract both a larger number of overseas tourists who spend money and do more to encourage Australians to see their own country rather than everywhere else.

It is acknowledged that Australia has done exceedingly well in the qualitative measures of inbound tourism but where its visitor numbers are far lower than the potential. It is suggested that a strategic report worthy of its name should have addressed these pertinent issues.

However, the white paper did not recommend a second airport site to compliment Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport, but instead ruled out the anticipated site of Badgerys Creek, which has been overtaken by years of urban growth in the area and is inconsistent with future NSW spatial planning and land use development plans for the south-west region of Sydney. In regards to security, the government will implement less stringent rules, allowing passengers to take “low-risk” items on to planes such as knitting needles, crochet hooks and nail files and in addition will also allow the use of metal cutlery knives on aircraft and at airport facilities. The new rules will allow security screeners to focus only on items of real risk.

An estimated 200,000 Australians are expected to visit Korea at the end of the Visit Korea Year 2010-2012 campaign. Korea, in this light, equally hopes to garner more Australian exchange students, from 200 each year to around 500 by 2012, and boost the number of Australian – Korean sister schools, from the current 40 schools. It is hoped that the welcoming of more Australian exchange students will increase the awareness of, and interest, in Korea as well as improve the existing political relationship between both countries. Visit Korea Year 2010-2012 is a pan-national campaign which envisions focusing on building the Korean tourism brand and developing high-quality tourism products to draw in 10 million foreign visitors.

Each year of the Visit Korea Year campaign will be accompanied with a different theme to highlight the unique culture and many offerings of Korea, including themes such as City and Style (2010), Nature and People (2011) and Blue Ocean (2012). City and Style will centre on Korean pop culture, urban tourism, culture and fashion, while Nature and People will focus on the IAFF World Championship in Athletics in Daegu, green tourism and the country’s rivers and mountains. The International Exposition, Yeosu Korea 2012, will kick off Blue Ocean, which will focus on Korea’s IT technology, maritime tourism, cruise tourism and island tourism.

Cruise Company, Carnival Australia, believes that the cruise industry’s economic contribution could exceed AUD 3 billion by 2020 given that the latest report from Access Economies is a compelling addition to the intensifying debate around all the critical issues facing the cruise industry now and into the future. According to the Company’s Chief Executive, Ann Sherry, the company will seek to continue working with governments to ensure the development of long term solutions to overcome capacity constraints that could impede the sector’s continued expansion.

Indeed Carnival Australia indicates its enthusiasm in the progress made to improve port facilities but much remains to be done to ensure that this key part of the tourism sector continues to provide thousands of jobs in major ports around Australia given the expectation that the total cruise sector activity will increase 7% each year over the next decade as more Australian families cruise onboard ships which regularly visit major ports such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Fremantle, Cairns, Adelaide and Hobart.

The importance of Sydney as a destination is acknowledged as critical to the growth of the cruise sector in terms of attracting international (Cruise) tourists to Australia and where advice has been issued around the provision of suitable infrastructure in Sydney and elsewhere in order for the sector to reach its growth potential.

The JNTI attributes the rise in the number to factors associated with the appreciation of the Australian dollar against the yen, special airfare sales, and an increase in media promotions targeting the Australian market. Furthermore, with the launch of the Visit Japan Year 2010 Campaign, a marketing effort aimed at increasing travelers to Japan and achieving Japan’s goal of 10 million international visitors by 2010, JNTO is optimistic that Australian arrivals will continue to increase, especially with Japan’s ski season scheduled to begin soon. Indeed the Australian dollar has been making a steady recovery with one dollar now worth around 80 yen compared to 60 yen at the same time last year.

The figures released by JNTO are based on arrivals of Australian passport holders and include business, leisure, and stopover visitors. Australia remains the sixth major Japan inbound market ahead of the UK, Thailand, Canada and France and behind South Korea, China, Taiwan, USA and Hong Kong.