Maharashtra is top Indian tourist source market for Australia

Maharashtra has emerged as the leading source market for Australia with over 59,000 tourists from the state visiting the land of kangaroos in the year ended June 2017.

"The state of Maharashtra ranks as the leading source market for Australia. For the year ended June 2017, over 59,000 tourists from Maharashtra visited Australia spending AUD 310 million (about Rs 1,550 crore) on their holiday in the land of kangaroos," according to data compiled by Tourism Australia.

According to the data, Maharashtra contributed to a growth of 18 per cent in tourist footfalls and 41 per cent in spend for the year ended June 2017.
 

In the year under review, a total of 2,77,100 Indian tourists visited Australia, a growth of nearly 15 per cent over the last year, and making the country the ninth largest inbound market.

Maharashtra was followed by Delhi, from where 32,000 holiday-makers travelled to Australia. The capital state was followed by Karnataka (30,000), Tamil Nadu (20,000), Punjab (18,000) and Gujarat (17,000).

However, West Bengal, which was at the ninth position among Indian source markets, witnessed the maximum growth of 97 per cent with 11,400 people from the state travelling to Australia, according to the data.

"Over the years, we have undertaken several focused campaigns as part of our consumer outreach efforts. Our collaboration with television over the past two years has definitely helped us to not only build awareness, but also drive visitation from our number one state (Maharashtra)," said Tourism Australia Country Manager, India and Gulf, Nishant Kashikar.

He said Tourism Australia has also worked closely with key specialist agents and airline partners to present attractive offers to travellers to choose Australia as their next holiday destination.

"Visitors from Maharashtra were looking forward to a range of experiences, including aquatic and coastal (beaches), self-drive, nature, wildlife and adventure on their Australian sojourn. With a growing penchant for travel, we expect growth from our top metro cities to continue over the years to follow," he added.