International visitor spending on Visa cards in Australia dropped by four percent to $5.1 billion in 2010, reflecting the challenging financial times and the rising Australian dollar, according to the Tourism Outlook: Australia, a report released by Visa that analysed Visa cardholder spending over the past two years.
However, spending at fast food outlets rose by nearly 42 percent and shopping at discount stores rose by 37 percent as visitors found ways to make their travel budgets stretch further.
Visa’s country manager Australia, Vipin Kalra, said the figures highlighted a trend for international visitors to look for value in line with more conservative spending patterns following the global financial crisis.
“The high Australian dollar has certainly had an impact on spending, with international visitors increasingly attracted to bargain hunting and saving money in areas such as dining out,†Kalra said.
Other points from the report:
– UK visitors were the biggest Visa card spenders at $973.3 million (down 3 percent), followed by the US at $638.9 million (down 7.9 percent)
– Visa card spending was higher among visitors from Asia including China (up 2 percent), Indonesia (up 9.9 percent), Singapore (up 2.4 percent), Malaysia (up 4.8 percent) and South Korea (up 6.3 percent)
– overall spending on accommodation rose by 4.6 percent to $600.52 million
– in the retail sector, spending at electronics stores rose by 18 percent to $29 million and discount store spending was up 37 percent to $5 million, but department store spending was down 16 percent to $84.6 million
