SYDNEY – A spate of assaults on Indian students in Australia may be contributing to a slowdown in the growth of tourism arrivals from India since the beginning of the year.
Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF) analysis of the latest visitor arrivals data shows growth in visitor arrivals from India has slipped to seven percent in 2009, from 26 percent over the same period last year.
“India and China have been two of the mainstays for the tourism industry over the past few years,†said TTF executive director Brett Gale.
“However, it has been a stop-start 18 months from China with the Sichuan earthquake and Olympics affecting arrivals in 2008 and swine flu hurting 2009 numbers.
“While the economic slowdown has had an effect, there is no doubt that recent bad publicity is affecting visitor arrivals from India too,†Gale said.
After regular growth of more than 20 percent (from India) in 2008, there have been far more moderate increases in 2009, with single digit growth in most months and a one percent fall in June.
“It has been an extremely tough period for the tourism industry with the global financial crisis, swine flu and strong Australian dollar hurting international arrivals,†Gale said.
