Indian tourists are flocking to see the beauty of Australia taking the total number of overseas travellers from the region to over 134,000 from January to October this year.

According to latest data of Tourism Australia, about 13,400 visitors from India visited Australia during October this year, an increase of 9.5 per cent compared to the same period previous year.

According to its Tourism Forecast Committee report released earlier this year, visitor arrivals from India were predicted to rise 7.5 per cent and 7.6 per cent to 163,800 in 2012-13 and 176,300 in 2013-14, respectively.

“Markets expected to experience strongest gains in visitor volumes in 2012-13 are China (15.9 per cent), Malaysia (13.9 per cent), Singapore (12.5 per cent) and India (7.5 per cent),” it said.

“This revision represents a difference of 6,500 more visitors in aggregate. In the longer term to 2021-22, average annual growth of 7.2 per cent to 306,100 visitors is expected,” the report cited while noting the trends from Indian tourists.

It said that the average length of stay rose 20 per cent to 66 nights per trip, while total nights in hotels, motels and guest houses and serviced apartments rose 17.2 per cent to 0.5 million compared to the same period in 2011-12.

“Visitors expenditure is forecasted to rise 19.8 per cent in 2012-13 to $867 million. In the longer term to 2021-22, average annual growth of 10.9 per cent is forecast to $2 billion, representing an upward revision of $354 million,” the report predicted.

Last year, Tourism Australia had launched India 2020 Strategic Plan which was developed to maximise India’s tourism potential and set a foundation for the future, when long haul leisure travel by Indians becomes more common.

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