China key to boosting Australian visitor economy

Australia's visitor economy is on track to generate A$127 billion ($97 billion) by 2020, backed by a surging Chinese visitor market, Tourism Research Australia said last week.

The latest forecasts released by TRA has seen upward revisions in domestic and international visitor numbers and expenditure over the 10-year forecast period.

TRA expects the international visitor growth rate to be 6.7 percent in 2016-17 and 5.9 percent in 2017-18. It is within the target range of $88 billion to $107 billion in overnight visitor expenditure set by the government's Tourism 2020 Strategy. By 2024-25, about 12.3 million international visitors are expected to travel to Australia each year.