The Tourism & Transport Forum Australia (TTF) has welcomed the strong result in the latest International Visitor Survey as further incentive for Australia’s political parties to release detailed tourism industry policies to turbo-charge the growth of the sector.

According to the latest figures from Tourism Research Australia:

 international visitors increased by 9 per cent to 7.1 million;

 visitor nights increased by 8 per cent to 248 million; and

 expenditure increased by 17 per cent to $37.9 billion.

The new figures come two days ahead of the official launch of TTF’s Federal Election blueprint at our premier tourism industry and policy conference – Outlook 2016 – which is being held at the Crown Conference Centre in Melbourne on Friday.

“The latest international visitor survey results just reinforce why we need to be hearing more during this election campaign from Mr Turnbull and Mr Shorten on their respective visions for Australia’s visitor economy,” said Margy Osmond, TTF CEO.

“Can you name another industry in Australia that is seeing the fantastic results being delivered by the tourism sector? The industry is going from strength to strength but we can do so much more with the right policy settings.

“Our Chinese visitor market is continuing to set new records with expenditure up a whopping 38 per cent and visitor numbers up 23 per cent – by far the strongest performance of our top 5 markets.

“Tourism is supporting nearly one million jobs and contributing billions to the national economy – it’s the great Australian success story in the middle of a difficult transition from the end of the mining boom to a diversified services-based economy.

“Industry is keenly awaiting the release of comprehensive tourism industry policies from all political parties before polling day. It’s time for politicians to show that they view our industry as more than a photo opportunity, we need to see a suite of positive policies to secure the investment we need.

“TTF will be officially launching our election manifesto on Friday at our premier tourism industry and policy conference – Outlook 2016 – which will detail the actions we need to see from the next Federal Government to allow the industry to reach its full potential.”