As the Australian dollar plummets to new lows, it’s looking pretty bad for the Australian economy. Experts are predicting that there’s no end in sight regarding the drop, and it could fall to as low as half a US dollar before it makes a resurgence.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom. With the Australian dollar depreciating so much, its enticing international travellers to the Southern Hemisphere.
Travelling to Oz is now a lot cheaper for most of the world, and international arrivals are far outweighing any departures from the country. Thus, holidaymakers see a holiday to Australia as a more affordable option than ever before. The overall cost of a package holiday has been greatly reduced compared to 5 years ago. It’s a stark contrast from 2003 when “the Australian dollar began a steep appreciation which eventually culminated in it soaring above 110 US cents in early 2011,” reported the Sunday Morning Herald.
“Tourists from Asia, and in particular tourists from China, are the major growth area for Australian tourism exports,” according to an article in the Business Insider. A total of 935,000 people travelled to Australia in 2014 and 2015, with analysts predicting by 2016, one million Chinese nationals will visit Australia annually because of the currency slump.
Gareth Aird, who is an economist for Commonwealth Bank suggests that this will also help increase the amount of travellers from the US and the UK. The majority of the latter’s tourism will come directly from Heathrow Airport, which is the third busiest airport on the planet. Heathrow services many flights to Sydney, Melbourne and a host of cities in the country. These figures don’t include expats.
While the strength of the Australian dollar is obviously discerning, the need to build on the momentum the tourism industry is seeing is a must. A recovery to the levels of 2003 are some way off but if other industries regain a foothold on the market, the country will begin to recover and start strengthening the Australian dollar.
