The Hindu Business Line : Australia sees rise in Indian tourists

REGISTERING a 38 per cent increase in tourist traffic in the first two months this year, the Australian Tourism Commission expects a growth of about 13 per cent in tourist traffic in 2004 as opposed to a mere 1 per cent growth last year and a fall of 7 per cent a year before that.

The General Manager and Head, South and South East Asia, Australian Tourist Commission, Ms Maggie White, told Business Line that the present growth was partly due to tourist traffic during the India-Australia cricket series.

But the interesting aspect is that better connectivity and attractive stay packages have made it that much more attractive for visitors.

"Even a 1 per cent growth in the year 2003 was important since this coincided with a tough year where we witnessed the SARS scare and the bird flu. In fact, the year 2002 witnessed a de-growth of about 7 per cent as against 16 per cent growth in the year 2001," she said.

In absolute terms, the overall Indian tourist traffic touched the 45,000 mark in the year 2003, mainly covering family visitors, which include chief executive officers of companies, and also business visitors.

Even the student traffic is up lately as they prefer Australian education, particularly in the areas of IT and management, she said. With the re-launch of Qantas Airlines' 12-hour direct flight to Australia from later this year after about two and a half years, increased traffic was expected.

Apart from this, flights from Malaysian, Singapore, Silk Air and Emirates Airlines have also added to the convenience.

"Holidayers apart, film-makers and television commercial and serial makers are now visiting Australia. The direct flight of three days a week would make it a lot more convenient. If you analyse the total costs, you will note that the hotel stay is probably cheaper than some of the five-star hotels in India," she said.