Skift Take
Destinations are betting big on India’s travel market. With a growing economy, young population, and rising middle class, the country is positioned to become one of the most lucrative outbound tourism markets in the world.
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Last week, Australia’s High Commissioner to India, Philip Green said India became the first country to return to and surpass pre-pandemic levels of travel to Australia.
Skift caught up with Nishant Kashikar, country manager of India and Gulf at Tourism Australia, to talk about the factors aiding tourism growth from India.
Here’s what we found out…
India is the fourth largest source market for Australia in terms of visitor arrivals (from July 2022-June 2023) — a jump from being the seventh largest source market pre-Covid, in 2019. For the year ended June 2023, visitation of Indian travelers to Australia is 3% higher than pre-Covid level with 383,000 visitors this year, said Kashikar.Indian Travelers Spend: The amount Indian tourists spent during a holiday in Australia is up by 16% as compared to pre-Covid level.
“Indians spent $1.3 billion (Rs 11,000 crore) during the year, up 16% over pre-Covid levels. In terms of spend, India has now become the fifth largest market, from the pre-pandemic levels of the sixth largest one,” said Kashikar.
Increase in Aviation Capacity: The 3x rise in direct weekly flights on the India-Australia route compared to pre-Covid level has been a major contributing factor to the growth of India as a source market for Australia.
Compared to the seven direct weekly flights between the countries, Kashikar said there are now 22 direct weeklies on the route, including the Qantas Airways’ Bengaluru-S