Australian Outbound Travel Booms, Inbound Tourism Flat

8 February, 2012 by Martin Kelly | 

The boom in international travel by Australians continued through 2011 with a 9.6% surge, according to the latest Overseas Arrivals and Departures figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Fastest growing major destinations were Indonesia (11.9% over 2010), USA (12.8%), Thailand (15.7%), China (22.5%) and India (11.4%).

Inbound for the year was down 0.2% to to 5.875m, possibly due to a flat second half (in the year to June 30, 2011, the number of international visitors was up 3.8%).

“A record 1.4 million Australians went to Thailand and Indonesia last year meaning fewer people chose an Australian beach or island resort holiday,” said John Lee from the Tourism and Transport Forum.

“With the dollar likely to remain strong for some time and investment in new resorts in south-east Asia, many leisure tourism operators in Australia are facing an uncertain future.

“The same global economic conditions pushing our dollar up are affecting our source markets.

“Uncertainty in many of our traditional markets has seen declines in annual arrivals, including from the UK, Europe, Japan, Canada and the US.

“Growth from emerging markets including China – now our third largest source country – Indonesia, India, and the Philippines has not made up for the falls."

Australian Bureau of Statistics release Tourist Accommodation, Australia Sep 11 data

SEPTEMBER KEY FIGURES

Accommodation with 15 rooms or more		Jun Qtr 11	Sep Qtr 11	Jun Qtr 11 to Sep Qtr 11	Sep Qtr 10 to Sep Qtr 11
Trend
	Takings from accommodation ($m)	2 124.4	2 154.8	1.4 %	5.7 %
	Room occupancy rate (%)	65.3	65.8	0.5 pts	1.5 pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Takings from accommodation ($m)	2 151.0	2 148.2	-0.1 %	5.1 %
	Room occupancy rate (%)	65.9	65.6	-0.3 pts	0.9 pts

Accommodation Takings, Australia

Room Occupancy Rate, Australia

SEPTEMBER KEY POINTS


ACCOMMODATION TAKINGS

• In the September quarter 2011, the trend estimate of total accommodation takings for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms increased by 1.4% to $2154.8 million compared with the June quarter 2011.
• Over the same period, the seasonally adjusted estimate decreased by 0.1% to $2148.2 million.

ROOM OCCUPANCY RATE

• The September quarter 2011 trend estimate room occupancy rate of 65.8% for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms was 0.5 percentage points higher than the previous quarter.
• Over the same period, the seasonally adjusted estimate decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 65.6%.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
December 2011	30 March 2012
March 2012	29 June 2012

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

This issue presents results from the September quarter 2011 Survey of Tourist Accommodation (STA) for the following categories of establishments:

• hotels and resorts with 15 or more rooms
• motels, private hotels and guest houses with 15 or more rooms
• serviced apartments with 15 or more units

CHANGES TO THIS PUBLICATION

The STA PDF publication has been reduced pending a move to web format only from March quarter 2012. The table containing hotels, motels and serviced apartments by star grading has been removed from the publication as data are available in the data cube 8635.0.55.002 - Tourist Accommodation, Small Area Data, Australia. 


AUSTRALIAN STATISTICAL GEOGRAPHY STANDARD (ASGS)

From July 2011 the ABS will progressively replace the current Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) with the new Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) as its geographic framework. Information about the ASGS can be found at www.abs.gov.au/geography and in cat. no. 1270.0.55.003 Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 3 - Non ABS Structures, July 2011. 

The ASGS will become the geographic framework for the STA from the March quarter 2012. Tourism region maps and correspondence file based on the ASGS are available in cat. no. 9503.0.55.001 Tourism Region Maps and Correspondence File, Australia, 2011.



INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.


SUMMARY COMMENTARY


ORIGINAL

Hotels, motels and serviced apartments

This summary contains key findings for original estimates. Original series are impacted by seasonal variations and irregular or non-seasonal influences. Comparison between quarters should be made with caution.

Accommodation takings

In the September quarter 2011, accommodation takings were $2193.5 million for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms.

Takings from accommodation, Hotels, motels and serviced apartments - Australia

Accommodation takings in the September quarter 2011 for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms were highest in New South Wales ($666.9 million) and Queensland ($592.3 million). Tasmania recorded the lowest takings for the period ($36.9 million).

For Australia, the September quarter 2011 average takings per room night occupied were $158.10 for establishments with 15 or more rooms. This was 3.9% higher than the September quarter 2010 ($152.11).

AVERAGE TAKINGS, by type of establishment - Australia

Room occupancy rate

The room occupancy rate for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms was 66.8% in the September quarter 2011.

Traditionally, hotels have higher occupancy rates than motels or serviced apartments. Over the September 2011 quarter, hotels had an occupancy rate of 71.6% compared with 59.9% for motels and 69.7% for serviced apartments.

ROOM OCCUPANCY RATE, Australia

Five out of the eight states and territories experienced an increase in the occupancy rate of hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms between the September quarter 2010 and the September quarter 2011. Western Australia (70.5%) experienced the largest increase (5.0 percentage points). Over the same period, occupancy in the Northern Territory (74.6%) decreased by 5.2 percentage points. 

The Australian Capital Territory recorded the highest occupancy rate (77%) in the September quarter 2011 followed by the Northern Territory (74.6%) and Western Australia (70.6%) Over the same period, Tasmania experienced the lowest occupancy rate (47.1%).

Room nights occupied

Room nights occupied were 13.9 million in the September quarter 2011 for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms. 

New South Wales contributed the largest proportion (30.5%) of room nights occupied for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms, followed by Queensland (28.4%).

Average length of stay

The average length of stay over the September quarter 2011 for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms was 2.3 days. Queensland reported the longest average length of stay (2.7 days) followed by Western Australia (2.5 days) and the Northern Territory (2.4 days). South Australia had the shortest average length of stay (2.0 days).

The latest airline to be launched in the United Arab Emirates

The latest airline to be launched in the United Arab Emirates will commence operations during the first quarter of 2012 from Fujairah International Airport, it has been confirmed.

Eastern Express will be operated as a private company by Al Hajjar Aviation in partnership with Abulhoul Aviation and prominent local businessmen from Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

According to CEO Alex de Vos, it will be the first airline in the Middle East region to introduce the air feeder concept, which is already well established in Europe and the United States.

“Eastern Express will operate double daily flights linking Fujairah to the world through Abu Dhabi initially and later through other GCC destinations. It will use safe, modern regional turboprop aircraft that are specifically designed for high reliability and comfort on short, high frequency routes,” he said.

“Fujairah is rapidly developing with huge growth in industry and tourism and Eastern Express will capitalise on the need for passengers whether tourists and businessmen to connect to this emerging emirate.”

ASC Staff on Aug 14, 2011

Engineer dead after being 'sucked into plane engine

A man has been killed after being sucked into a plane engine on near Blenheim, on New Zealand's south island.
The 49-year-old man had been testing the engine in a remote corner of Woodburne Airport, just outside Blenheim, about 8.15am.
Marlborough area police commander Inspector Steve Caldwell said how the man died was "all assumption at this stage".
Advertisement: Story continues below
But New Zealand media reported that three separate sources had said the man had been drawn into the C-130 Hercules engine.
SAFE Air, an Air New Zealand maintenance subsidiary, confirmed that an engineer died during what it called a "routine maintenance operation".
A former employee said the engine was not fitted to an aircraft when the man was killed.
He said SAFE Air tested Hercules engines on a frame in a remote corner of the airport once they had been serviced.
The man reportedly entered the testing enclosure while the engine was running.
Three fire engines and several police cars converged on the airfield this morning.
SAFE Air said it was working with police and the Department of Labour on the investigation.
Inspector Caldwell said police were also investigating.
Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe was reportedly travelling to Blenheim in the wake of the accident.

stuff.co.nz and The Marlborough Express

TIGER AIR STAYS GROUNDED IN AUSTRALIA

Singapore budget carrier Tiger Airways' Australian operations will remain grounded until next week after a court hearing on the matter was adjourned on Friday when the aviation regulator asked the airline for more information.

A Federal Court hearing scheduled for Friday was adjourned until Thursday next week, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) said.

"We are still working through those issues with Tiger. There are a number of issues, some are related to documents, in some areas we are waiting for additional information," the CASA spokesman told reporters.

Tiger warned this week its financial results in the 2011-12 financial year will be significantly affected by its Australian operations, which have been grounded due to safety measures since July 2.

Tiger Airways, which is a third owned by Singapore Airlines, has said it was preparing to re-launch the Australian operations once CASA was satisfied that it had met certain conditions.

CASA last month imposed a ban on all domestic flights by Tiger citing "serious" safety issues.

Tiger was not available to comment although a lawyer for the airline was quoted by local media as saying he expected the outstanding issues to be resolved by the end of next week.

(Reuters)

CUBA APPROVES FLIGHTS FROM NINE MORE US CITIES

Air travel between the United States and Cuba will become easier with the opening of charter flights to the forbidden island from an additional nine US cities announced by Cuba authorities.

Cuban travel agency Havanatur Celimar said it added the cities of Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Baltimore, Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans, Dallas, Houston and San Juan, Puerto Rico, to the list from where charter flights would be accepted.

Cuba is preparing for an increase in visitors from its long-time ideological foe under a recent loosening of travel restrictions by the Obama administration.

The United States, which maintains comprehensive sanctions on the communist-run island and bans tourism to Cuba, does not allow regular commercial flights between the two countries.

But the Obama administration has lifted all restrictions on Cuban Americans visiting their homeland and allowed religious, academic and other professional travel by Americans to Cuba.

Havana Celimar has a monopoly on the Cuban end of US charter flights and already receives flights from Miami, New York and Los Angeles.

The number of US citizens visiting Cuba increased last year by 20 percent, to 63,000, according to Cuban statistics.

Some 350,000 Cuban Americans visited Cuba in 2010 after the Obama administration lifted all restrictions on their travel.

The travel opening annoyed Cuban American lawmakers who have introduced legislation in Congress that would reimpose a Bush-era restriction on Cuban American travel to the island of only one visit every three years and more strictly enforce the ban on US travel to Cuba.

The lawmakers argue that the Obama administration is helping prop up the Cuban government, while the White House counters more people-to-people contact is the best way to undermine the island's communist system.

President Barack Obama has threatened to veto any move to undercut his people-to-people policy toward Cuba.

Cuba has said it had 2.53 million tourists in 2010, with Canada the largest provider at nearly 945,000, followed by Britain at 174,000 and Italy at 112,000.

Tourism is one of Cuba's most important earners of foreign exchange, with revenues of USD$2.2 billion last year, and an important provider of jobs.

(Reuters)

STAR ALLIANCE SHELVES AIR INDIA MEMBERSHIP

Air India's plan to join Star Alliance, a consortium of global airlines, has been put on hold as the loss making Indian carrier had not met the minimum joining conditions.

Star Alliance, formed in 1997, is a consortium of 27 member airlines including Lufthansa, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, and Thai Airways. It has a fleet of more than 4,000 aircraft at present serving 185 countries.

Star Alliance has certain minimum joining requirements, which involve development and testing systems and procedures to harmonise the product with other members.

"The member airlines of the Star Alliance network and Air India have jointly concluded that the integration of Air India into the global airline alliance will be suspended," the statement by Star Alliance said.

"This is due to the fact that Air India has not met the minimum joining conditions that were contractually agreed in December 2007."

Joining the Star Alliance network would have given Air India a chance to strengthen its international operations as well as given it a brand boost.

Air India has not posted a profit since merging with another state-run carrier Indian Airlines in 2007 and is in talks with 26 Indian banks to restructure USD$4 billion of working capital debt.

It lost more than USD$1 billion in the year that ended in March 2010, the last year for which it posted figures. Its ranking in terms of domestic market share has dropped to fourth from third, behind private sector rivals Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and budget carrier IndiGo.

"As far as I know Air India had met all the conditions, an Air India official, who declined to be identified, said.

Star Alliance said its members would continue to provide assistance to Air India and a potential alliance membership at a future stage may be discussed.

(Reuters)