Australia is threatening to become the sole exporter of tourists as the number of outbound passengers exceeded the number of inbound tourists. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics data from arrivals figures have increased slightly by 1.7% in the first couple of months of 2008, while departure figures have increased by a significant 14.5%.

The total number of tourist arrivals exceeded 5.6 million in 2007, and increase of 2% since the previous year, however departures witnessed a 10.6% increase last year totaling 5.4 million. Due to an increase in the tourism infrastructure in Asia, Government investments and discount flights, many Australians are opting to travel there. Just fewer than 50% of Australian departures are to Asia, which is a 40% increase from 5 years ago. Vice President of Research, Ms Karen Wales stated that ‘Tourism infrastructure has gone from strength to strength in many Asian countries, Singapore is developing its massive Integrated Resorts, Hong Kong has Disneyland, casinos in Macau SAR now rival Las Vegas’s and Japan’s in favour as a ski destination.’

Japan, India, South East Asia and China have seen the biggest growth of their tourism industries and this movement of the world’s economies focus is expected to continue to grow through 2008 said Ms Wales.

This trend suggests that Australia will become the net exporter of tourists in 2008. It has been suggested by Ms Wales that there is a possibility that due to interest rates,  Australians may begin to opt for domestic vacations and thus Australia will see a shift back to domestic travel.  Ms Wales stated that ‘Australians may consider an overseas holiday a luxury that they can no longer afford.’

Despite tourism figures suggesting that Australia is exporting its tourists, Australian hotels have recorded a 5.4% increase in occupancy. Domestic hotels are battling on and reaping the rewards. Although Ms Wales warns that regardless of the hotel industries strong year, this figure could drop with the decreasing inbound travelers and therefore the industry needs to co-operate across the sector in order to encourage sustainability.