International Visitors to Australia Looking To Stretch Their Budget

An Australian report has shown that international visitors are constantly looking at ways to stretch their budgets.

A report studying those who spending money on Visa cards has shown that spending has dropped by 4%. This took the total figures to $5 billion on 2010. It shows just how much the recent challenging financial times have affected tourists. This is also thought to be in part down to the rise of the Australian dollar. This was presented in the report carried out by Tourism Outlook; Australia who studied Visa cardholder spending habits.

While spending did drop by 4%, fast food spending actually increased by an amazing 42%. In order to make their budget last longer, tourists also visited more discount stores. Sales at these discount stores rose by 37%.

Vipin Kalra, the Country Manager for Visa Australia claims that these figures highlight the trend of visitors looking for better value. After the global financial crisis, there tends to be a more conservative spending pattern being followed. Mr Kalra explains:

“The higher Australian dollar has definitely had an impact on spending. International visitors are becoming more attracted to hunting for bargains and saving money on eating out”.

The report clearly shows the increase in popularity of fast food. Eating out in restaurants is also on the increase by 4%. This takes the total amount spent in 2010 at restaurants to $202.9 million.

After the rise of 42% for fast food outlets, total spending topped $17.2 million in 2010. It was the Chinese visitors who spent the most in Australian restaurants, laying out up to 16% which is the equivalent of $12.2 million.

According to John Lee, the chief executive of peak industry body Tourism & Transport forum, China is currently Australia’s largest growing inbound market.

“The amount of Chinese visitors coming to Australia has increased by almost a quarter in 2010. China is now Australia’s third largest source market. We have also seen a rise in double figures for other Asian countries. Australia is now in a brilliant position to capitalise on the potential that is offered by these markets”

The report also found:

• The highest spenders in the country were UK visitors who spent a total of $973.3 million. This was a drop down by 3%. The US came next at $638.9 million which was down by 7%
• The amount spent on accommodation increased by 4.6%. This took the total spent to $600.52 million.
• Visitors from Asia had a high Visa spending limit with China increasing its spending by 2%, Indonesia by 9.9%, Singapore by 2.4%, Malaysia up by 4.8% and South Korea up by 6.3%
• The average value of a Visa card transaction in 2010 was $171.40. The amount of transactions rose a little (0.2%) to take the total to $30.2 million

All in all the tourism industry is thought to be looking really positive for Australia. This is despite the high Australian dollar, on top of the natural disasters which have occurred recently. Good news during uncertain financial times.

Source: Visa

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