The Australian annual tourism index is predicting that international tourism won’t be fully recovered until 2025.
Australia’s international tourism industry is taking longer to recover than expected and is now predicted to take until 2025 to make a full recovery, despite domestic tourism surging.
A notable location, the Great Barrier Reef, makes up more in terms of tourism than Tasmania, Southern Australia, and the Northern Territory combined. The reef’s tourism numbers are currently sitting at a quarter of pre-pandemic levels.
On the bright side, this year the Great Barrier Reef saw the most significant recovery in 36 years in terms of the health and coverage of its coral. Although, it’s unclear if this is connected to the decrease in tourism or the decrease in emissions or another factor.
Tourism Tropical North Queensland chief executive Mark Olsen recently made a statement on the lack of tourists coming to the area despite Australia reopening its borders.
“At the moment, on the ground when we’d normally have about 2500 international visitors staying about five to seven days, we’re less than 500 internationals on the ground.”
At the same time, the already recovered domestic tourism industry is expected to keep growing into next year.
Love Travel?
Get the latest Travel news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
Olsen also commented on China’s role in the international tourism recovery.
“China will be the one to watch in 2023. I think we’ll all be watching with bated breath,” he said.
“The surge in domestic tourism had provided some consolation to the Queensland industry this year,” he said.
“They’ve rekindled their love of Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef, and that’s really comforting to us,” he said.
“We’re cautiously optimistic that domestic [visitors] will continue to choose Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef through ’23 and ’24, and then we’ve got to see the international comeback.”
“For some businesses, particularly some big reef operators, they were 80 per cent international and 20 per cent domestic,” he said.
“I have been delighted to see Australians getting out and about around our country this year, and I look forward to our tourism and travel businesses welcoming more international visitors in coming years,” he said.
