The year 2015 sees Australia’s most popular tourism market since 2000 when the Olympics was held in Sydney. 91 million Australian dollars (US$62.79 million) was spent every day in Australia by international tourists, where Chinese tourists contributed 19 million Australian dollars (US$13.11 million).

Since late last year, the Australian dollar dropped further after experiencing a slight rebound last month. The exchange rate of the Australian dollar against RMB continued to weaken this year although several intermediate rises. As of September 2 2015, the Australian dollar against RMB had fallen by about 10%.

Influenced by the devaluation of the Australia dollars, Chinese outbound tourists to Australia increased. Among the international tourists visiting Australia, China accounted for about one-fifth, which was meant to bring Australia US$4.83 billion every year.

According to data of Australian tourism, the total expenditure of international tourists in Australia increased by 10% to US$23.04 billion, US$2.21 billion growth compared with last year. The number of Chinese tourists traveling to Australia increased by 22% to 864,000 person-trips compared with last year with the total consumption increase of 32%. Besides, Chinese travelers’ travel expenditure accounted for 6% of Australian GDP.

Also read: China the Largest Inbound Tourism Market for Japan H1 2015

In August 2013, China outbound travelers kept growing, Asia was the main destination for Chinese tourists.

Data showed that Hong Kong, Macao, Thailand and Singapore were the top choices of Chinese outbound travelers. And the number of travelers to Australia surged 40% compared to last month. 

Reasons for the fast increase were: first, Summer vacation was a major tourist season; second, New Zealand lower the requirements for visa to Chinese tourists; third, Australia launched China 2020 strategic plan.

Recently, more and more Chinese choose New Zealand for visiting. According to estimation of New Zealand, during the five years from 2013 to 2018, Chinese’s consumption in New Zealand would go up 13%, equal the consumption of Australian tourists.