Indians find it lucrative to visit Australia due to the depreciating Australian dollar.
In the last 12 months ending June 2015, about 2.20 lakh Indians visited Australia and had contributed A$1 billion (Rs.5,000 crore) to the Australian economy, which is an increase of 39 per cent over the corresponding period last year. As a result, India was ranked as the 10 largest market for spend into Australia.
Enthused by the response, Tourism Australia has drawn up plans to receive three lakh visitors by 2020 and lure them to spend A$1.9 billion.
Talking to The Hindu, Nishant Kashikar, Tourism Australia, Country Manager, India & Gulf, said that Indians had opted to visit Australia due to factors such as the depreciating Australian dollar, increased air connectivity, ICC world cup, faster visa processing system, and food and wine, among others.
From January to June 2015, about 1.23 lakh Indians visited Australia, registering 24 per cent growth over the previous period.
Purpose of visitThe purpose of visit ranged from visiting friends and relatives (42 per cent), to holiday (25 per cent), business (12 per cent) and education (6 per cent). He said that with the pilot launch of electronic visa processing system, the number of visitors would go up as visas would be granted within two days.
