International visitor arrivals to Australia is set to grow by 5.7 per cent in 2015, to around 7 million.

The growth is driven by the Asian markets according to Tourism Research Australia (TRA) data.

Arrivals from China are expected to increase 10.5 per cent, India 6.6 per cent, and Singapore 5.8 per cent. Over the next ten years, 58 per cent of international visitor arrivals growth will be sourced from Asia.

International spend in Australia is also expected to increase by 6 per cent to $33 billion by 2015, the strongest increase in recent years.

Resident departures are forecast to grow 4.3 per cent to 9.3 million in 2014–15, and by 3.8 per cent per annum (on average) to 12.3 million in 2022–23.

“The strong growth in overseas travel will impact on the performance of domestic tourism in the short to medium term. Australia’s domestic tourism is forecast to grow at an average annual rate of 0.8 per cent per annum over the next five years,” Chief Economist of the TRA, Dr Jago said.

Total domestic tourism expenditure is expected to increase 0.5 per cent in 2014-15 to $72 billion in real terms, making up about 69 per cent of the total visitor expenditure of $105 billion forecast for the year. Total tourism expenditure is forecast to grow on average 1.6 per cent per annum to $119 billion in 2022–23.