Karnataka tourists to Australia doubles in 3 years

BENGALURU: The number of Karnataka tourists visiting Australia has nearly doubled in the last three years, according to the latest international visitors’ survey carried out by the tourism department there.
More than 3.5 lakh Indians visited Australia in 2019, of which 40,000 were from Karnataka. From 20,234 in 2016, the number grew to 29,909 in 2017; 33,418 in 2018 and 40,470 in 2019.
India is Australia’s biggest market for inbound tourists with five consecutive years seeing double-digit growth, while Karnataka is Australia’s third-biggest Indian market.The 2020 target of 300,000 Indian visitors was met three years ahead, in December 2017, Tourism Australia officials said. Currently, 41% of Indians travel to Australia to visit family and friends; 22 % for holidays; 15 % for business and 7% for education.
Online travel agents said in 2019, the number of booking enquiries to Australia from Karnataka grew by 56%. “It could be because of increase in the number of Indian students travelling and studying in Australia. There has been a rise in experiential travel bookings — for skydiving, whale watching, kayaking, riding in a hot air balloon among others,” said Sabina Chopra, co-founder and COO, corporate travel at Yatra.com.