Shifting patterns and determinants of Asia-pacific tourism to Australia, 1990-2010

Australia is an increasingly important international holiday destination. Especially travel demand from Asia-Pacific countries has increased, which has led Australian policy-makers to believe the Asia-Pacific region will remain the largest growth market for holiday tourists. This article first prese...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research
Main Authors: Van De Vijver, Elien, Derudder, Ben, O'Connor, Kevin, Witlox, Frank
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8522819
http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8522819
https://doi.org/10.1080/10941665.2016.1175490
https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8522819/file/8522820
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Summary:Australia is an increasingly important international holiday destination. Especially travel demand from Asia-Pacific countries has increased, which has led Australian policy-makers to believe the Asia-Pacific region will remain the largest growth market for holiday tourists. This article first presents an overview of the evolution and shifting geographical patterns of Asia-Pacific tourism to Australia between 1990 and 2010, and relies on this to explore the major determinants underlying these changes using a bootstrapped loglinear multiple regression analysis. Results indicate that income (GDP per capita) remains the most important factor explaining tourism demand, albeit that the Australian holiday market is becoming increasingly mature. Distance, as a proxy for travel costs, has large negative elasticity that has slightly increased over time as the effects of air transport liberalization have been off-set by oil prices'. The paper is concluded with an outlook on some possible opportunities and challenges for future tourism demand to Australia.