Ryan Bridge: International spending is up, but is it really a win?

Tourism mojo. 

Louise Upston fired off an enthusiastic press release last night. 

"International visitor spend on the up” it proclaimed.

New data, which we get from the International Visitor Survey, showed a 10% jump in spending on the previous year.

Sounds impressive, right? 

Sounds like we’re getting somewhere. Finally shaking off the Covid cobwebs. 

But this is where we start to see the spin doctors earning their keep. 

Let’s not forget we’ve been dealing with inflation outside the band over that year. Which means stuff costs more - restaurants and hotels included.

So, are we actually getting more out of tourism than we were, and is the jumping up and down justified?

Well, the measure of success ought to be pre-Covid, when everything was shut down, we battened down the hatches and kissed the world goodbye.

By that measure, spending is still only 86% of what it was in 2019.

Now, the very same Minister responsible for last night’s press release was the same Minister responsible for firing one off on March 4th this year celebrating a big boost in tourism spending - up to, you guessed it, 86% of pre-Covid.

So, the long and the short of it is, nothing had changed in real terms between March’s PR exercise and June’s!

The Aussies and most of our big competition for these international tourists reversed the trends and brought them back a long time ago. The number of tourists travelling around the world recovered to pre-pandemic levels last year.

Instead of celebrating no real success month after month, we ought to be asking why we’re still such a long way off the hip, hit destination we were five years ago. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So Louise Upston fires off an enthusiastic press release last night.
International visitors spend on the up. It proclaims new data
which we get from the International Visitor Survey shows a
ten percent jump and spending on the previous year. Sounds impressive, right,
sounds like we're getting somewhere finally shaking off those COVID cobwebs.

(00:21):
But and this is where we start to see the
spin doctors earning their keep. Let's not forget that we've
been dealing with inflation outside of the band over the
past year, which means stuff costs more. Restaurants and hotels
are included. So are we actually getting more out of
tourism than we were? And is the jumping up and
down from the minister and the government actually justified? Well,

(00:43):
the measure of success ought to be pre COVID. Right
when everything was shut down, we battened down the hatches
and we basically kiss the world goodbye. By that measure,
spending is still only eighty six percent of what it was,
only eighty six percent of twenty nineteen. Now, the very
same minister responsible for last night's press release was the

(01:07):
very same minister responsible for firing one off on March
fourth this year, celebrating a big boost and tourism spending
up to you guessed it, eighty six percent of pre COVID.
So the longer than short of it is nothing has
changed in real terms between March's pr exercise and June's.

(01:29):
The Aussies and most of our big competition for these
international tourists reversed the trends and brought them back a
long time ago. The number of tourists traveling around the
world recovered to pre pandemic levels last year. Instead of
celebrating no real success month after month, we ought to
be asking ourselves why we're still such a long way

(01:52):
off the hip hot destination we were just five years ago.
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