The explosion of international tourism into Australia (led by China) is giving the country’s retail sector a significant boost, according to Deloitte Access Economics’ latest ‘Retail Forecasts’ report.
Deloitte partner David Rumbens says international tourist visitation in Australia is at record highs, with tourist spending also soaring.
“The strong growth in tourism over recent years is expected to continue during 2017, adding a key supplementary market for Australian retailers,” he said. “Tourist shopping expenditure from China alone is already around $1.4 billion per year and is set to almost quadruple over the next decade. Strong growth is also expected from India and the Middle East.”
Overall real (inflation-adjusted) retail sales growth was two per cent for the year to December 2016. Mr Rumbens says he expects a steady improvement during 2017 in retail sales, which are forecast to grow by 2.4 per cent for the year to December, then by 2.7 per cent over 2018.