Indian travellers one of biggest spenders in South Australia

Indian travellers are one of the biggest spenders in South Australia as they spent over 28 million Australia dollars (AUD) during the year ending September 2016, which is a surge of over 109 per cent increase over the previous year.

In the year 2014-15, Indians had spent AUD 13 million, according to data given by South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC).

The South Australia financial year is from October-September.

South Australia has witnessed a steady rise in expenditure by Indians over the last few years.

This is largely attributed to a growing interest in the state, leading to an increase in the number of nights spent by Indians, which saw an 18 per cent rise over the last year, says the SATC data.
 

"We are increasingly seeing Indians, with a higher capacity to spend, visiting Adelaide and the surrounds. Over the last year we have made significant progress through our consumer and trade marketing in getting Adelaide onto the itinerary of Indians visiting Australia. We are positive that we will see many more Indians coming on holiday to South Australia," SATC Regional Director-Southeast Asia and India Dana Urmonas said.

Indian tourists are among the top five biggest spenders from Asia following China, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, while holidaying in South Australia.

According to recent travel reports, Indians are increasing their travel budgets year-on-year and are now looking for new destinations and experiences, Urmonas added.

Currently, India is the ninth largest source market for Australia as a whole among the top 15 source markets for South Australia.

The last year saw 11,000 Indian visitors to South Australia.

According to the Tourism Forecasting Committee, the number of Indians travelling to Australia is expected to see an average annual growth of 6.4 per cent through to the financial year 2021-22.

The SATC is planning to capitalise on this and increase the number of Indian visitors to South Australia by 10 per cent in this year.

South Australia mainly targets big metro cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai and the core segments include families, honeymooners and independent leisure travellers in the age group of 25-55 years, Urmonas added.