NEW FIGURES - FIRST SIGNS OF DOWN TURN IN INBOUND ARRIVALS

The first official Australian tourism arrival figures released since the US terrorist attacks indicate a 12 per cent decline in international visitor arrivals to Australia during September 2001, Australian Tourist Commission Managing Director Ken Boundy said today.

Speaking following the release of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, preliminary September 2001 figures, Australian Tourist Commission (ATC) Managing Director, Ken Boundy said the figures show the first signs of the impact of the US terrorist attacks on inbound tourism to Australia.

"The figures indicate that around 358,000 international visitor arrivals to Australia in September 2001 - a drop of around 50,000 visitors compared to September 2000," he said.

"The next three months will be tough for the industry with international visitor arrivals expected to decline this year - the first decline since the Asian financial crisis in 1998.

"The first three months of 2002 are also a concern, with holiday bookings for this period significantly down compared to the same time last year. Feedback from some operators indicates a decline in holiday bookings between 20 to 40 per cent for this period next year."

"Today's figures show visitor arrivals from the US fell by 55 per cent in September 2001 due to the strong growth in arrivals during the Olympic month last year as well as cancellations in flights and holiday bookings in the last few weeks of September.

"The figures also indicate a seven per cent decline in visitor arrivals from New Zealand, our number one tourism market in September 2001 due to the collapse of Ansett which disrupted flights across the Tasman as well as the impact US terrorist attacks.

"However, September last year was an abnormal month for inbound arrivals to Australia due to the Sydney Olympic Games which delivered strong growth from markets such as the US (up 97 per cent in Sept 2000 compared to Sept 1999) and led to declines in visitor arrivals from other tourism markets including the UK (down 14 per cent) and Japan (down 13.3 per cent). Despite this abnormal month, visitor arrivals from the US and NZ in September 2001 were down compared to visitor arrivals in September 1999."

Mr Boundy said despite the overall decline in visitor arrivals during September 2001, visitor arrivals from some markets showed growth during the month including the United Kingdom, Asia and Japan.

"Visitor arrivals from Europe dropped by 18 per cent to 86,300 visitors during September 2001," he said. "However, the UK did not follow this trend with visitor arrivals growing by nearly 10 per cent. The UK is expected to be one of the most resilient tourism markets, and ATC is working with industry partners to look at strategies to maintain our market share.

"Visitor arrivals from Japan, Australia's second largest tourism market also grew during September, up 6.5 per cent compared to September last year. However, growth in arrivals from this market, particularly group travel are expected to be impacted in the next few months due to the recent events

"Visitor arrivals from Asia were also up by 20 per cent in September 2001 compared September last year, including growth from key markets in the region such as Singapore (up 26.1 per cent) and China (up 52.4 per cent).

Mr Boundy said the uncertainty around the globe and the ongoing campaign against terrorism would continue to impact on Australia's inbound tourism industry in the short to medium term.