Australia noticed a record-breaking variety of arrivals from India final 12 months.

The new figures, which cowl February 2023 to January 2024, present 402,200 inbound vacationers entered the nation from India. The main milestone even surpasses pre-pandemic ranges, in line with newest information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. 

It marks the primary time Australia has crossed the 400,000-arrival mark. As a consequence, India is now the fifth largest inbound marketplace for Tourism Australia, up from seventh place in 2019.

The group additionally says Indians are spending and contributing considerably to the Australian financial system.

The complete journey spend by Indian guests has additionally seen a notable enhance for the 12 months ending January 2024. It is up 20%, amounting to A$ 2.2 billion ($1.4 billion), with the per capita spend rising from A$ 4,908 ($3204) to A$ 5,901 ($3853), in line with Nishant Kashikar, nation supervisor — India and Gulf for Tourism Australia.

In January 2024 alone, Australia welcomed 26,200 guests from India, representing 106% of January 2019 arrivals.

What Clicked For Australia?

“Our initiatives across marketing, public relations, partnerships, distribution, trade, and business events in India, have helped us achieve these numbers,” Kashikar instructed Skift.

He additional credited the three-fold increase in direct aviation capacity from 8 to twenty-eight weekly flights and the streamlined visa software course of for enhancing accessibility.

Australia additionally points three-year multiple-entry visas to vacationers in India with none want for bodily submission of paperwork. The period of enterprise visas has additionally been elevated by as much as 5 years, in comparison with the sooner three-year possibility.

Direct air entry by Qantas and Air India, from Indian cities to Australia together with Qantas’ codeshare with IndiGo have additionally helped to extend accessibility.

“We are working with Indian as well as Australian carriers and airports to further build direct aviation connectivity,” Kashikar stated.

Analyzing traveler profiles, Kashikar highlighted that 75% of Indian guests to Australia have been leisure vacationers, with 8% touring for enterprise, 7% for employment, and 5% for short-term training.

Speaking to Skift at the beginning of the year, Kashikar described India because the fastest-growing inbound marketplace for Australia, due to the rising middle class.

The Business Travel Rebound

Discussing the bounce-back of conferences, incentives, conferences, and occasion (MICE) journey from India to Australia, Kashikar famous a major surge in leads for enterprise occasions. “We’re seeing a five-time increase in leads than what we witnessed in 2019,” he instructed Skift in January.

He additionally stated a key issue for this progress has additionally been the strengthening of bilateral ties between Australia and India throughout commerce, funding, training, and tourism.

Speaking about Indian journey habits, Kashikar talked about a generational shift as youthful Indians journey at a a lot earlier age, resulting in a major enhance in journeys.

The shift from a savings-focused financial system to at least one the place Indians are spending extra on holidays, particularly among the many youth has additionally made India a profitable marketplace for locations, in line with Kashikar. This development is driving elevated expenditure on travel-related providers.

Kashikar additionally famous that Indians are more and more immersing themselves in native experiences, akin to festivals, sporting occasions, historical past, structure, and culinary actions, which presents a major progress alternative for journey locations catering to those preferences.

Photo Credit: Tourism Australia has crossed the 400,000-arrival mark from India.