Chinese arrivals’ growth improves but QLD slips further as State of Intended Stay

Posted on November 11, 2019 by Pete Faulkner - NSW, QLD, Tourism, Uncategorized, VIC

The ABS Arrivals and Departures data for Sept shows total short-term arrivals to Australia were up 4.0% y/y (Trend) to another new record high of 809,700. Arrivals from China, which had been fairly stable earlier in the year, have shown a return to good growth (+4.5% y/y), also to a new high.

However, when we consider the State of Intended Stay data (by way of the Conus Trend series) we see that QLD continues to lag behind most other States. Victoria (+7.3% y/y) and Tasmania (+12.9% y/y) in particular were very strong with QLD registering just a 1.9% lift for the year.

As the chart below makes abundantly clear, the decline in the value of the A$ has turbo-charged the tourism sector. Domestic travel, in particular, has been very strong with growth to June 2019 of 11.7% in domestic overnight visitor numbers across the nation.