NEW DELHI: More Indians are now travelling to Australia than ever before and also spending more. Phillipa Harrison, MD of Tourism Australia, told TOI here Monday that this year will see the number of Indian visitors breach the all-time high of pre-Covid 2019. India is also among the top five source markets for Australia now.
“In 2019, 4 lakh Indians had visited Australia. Once travel started resuming post Covid, India was the fastest recovering market for us and it continues to be so. Last year the number recovered and we were just a little less than 2019 numbers. Now we expect to close 2024 with 4.24 lakh visitors from India and breach the pre-Covid levels by 6%,” Harrison said.
China was the number two source market for Australia. While it is still retains that spot, visitors from there are at 60% of 2019 levels. “New Zealand is our top source market, followed by China, US, UK and then India now. In pre-Covid 2019, India was at number six spot and now it is in our top five,” she said. Travel to and from China is yet to recover to 2019 levels from almost all big markets.
In 2019, the average spend per Indian visitor Down Under was 4,800 Australian dollars. This has gone up to 5,800 Australian dollars now. “For the year ended June 2024, Indian visitors spent Australian dollar 2.3 billion (about Rs 12,600 crore) on their Australian trips, an increase of 29% over 2019.”
“India is a really important market for us, thanks to the excellent relations between the two countries on both the people-to-people and government-to government levels. Trade between our countries is growing. Our visa process remains very visitor friendly with no need for biometrics, personal interview, requirement of pre-bookings and leaving passport for stamping. We are witnessing one of the highest visitation growths from India,” Harrison said.
A majority of travel between India and Australia happens one-stop, mostly via Singapore. “Direct air connectivity, though up from eight flights weekly in pre-Covid times, is up by 330% to 25 now but still there is tremendous scope to add nonstops. We are in talks with IndiGo and I will be meeting Air India MD & CEO Campbell Wilson (who hails from New Zealand). Qantas is also keen to add flights to India and we will soon see lot more nonstops,” she said.
Total arrivals to Australia in the year ended Aug 2024 was about 80 lakh, 85% of CY 2019 at 95 lakh. Arrivals from India in Jan-Aug 2024 was 2.8 lakh, 11% higher than 2023 and also 2019.