Chennai: Indians are preferring Australia for business, tourism and studies apart from family tours. In a recent survey, Chennai has emerged as the fourth largest source market for Australia and visitors from this metro has contributed to about Rs 500 crore to Australian economy through tourism. This contributes to about 100 million Australian dollars.
Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager, India and Gulf, Tourism Australia, said “We have seen an increase of 21 per cent in the spends by the visitors from Chennai while Indians on the whole spent about 1.14 billion Australian dollars during their trips last year. India is among the top 10 markets in the world for Australia and Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai are the fastest growing markets for Australia.”
Michael Newcombe, General Manager, South East Asia & Gulf countries, Tourism Australia, said “Australia has emerged as an ideal and cheaper destination compared to Europe. We desire to see India emerge as among the top five positions”. India’s contribution to Australian economy through tourism went up by almost 19 per cent and touched 1.14 billion Australian dollars. Indian visitors have spent around Rs 5,500 crore to the Australian economy over the last 12 months.