Indian tourists inflow to Australia rose by 13% in Jan-Apr, 2014

Melbourne, Jun 6 (PTI) Indian tourists inflow to Australia has increased by over 13 per cent for the first four months of 2014 as compared to the same period last year. There were 17,000 visitors from India during April in Australia this year alone, over 1000 more visitors from the previous month, according to the data released by the Tourism Australia. The total number of Indian visitors from January to April in 2014 stood at 60,800. The latest figures (January-April) show an increase of 13.6 per cent for the same period previous year. However, Chinese tourists continue to dominate a large portion of Australian international Tourism sector by showing 14 per cent growth and recording over 328,000 visitors during the first four months. India is currently the 11th biggest tourists market for Australia contributing over USD 867 million dollars annually. According to the projections of Tourism Australia's India 2020 Strategic Plan released two years ago, India would be the second fastest growing market contributing between 1.9 and 2.3 billion Australian dollars annually. For the last two years, Tourism Australia has been marketing Australia as a tourists destination through its 'There's nothing like Australia' campaign in some major cities including Delhi and Mumbai. Apart from this, New South Wales also kicked off a specially designed 'Jhappi Time' campaign for the market of Indian tourists this year. The campaign is aimed to build the state reputation as the key destination for Indian travellers in Australia and is expected to enhance tourism from India, currently worth an estimated USD 183 million a year to the New South Wales economy. PTI