Indians, 'Big Spenders' as Tourists

Bangalore: Are you aware of how much does an Indian tourist spend on an average in Australia or U.S.? The trend is changing globally and the tourists from India and China are progressively getting the status of 'big spenders'. Tourists from these two Asian countries outspend those from U.S. and UK in countries like Australia and South Africa.

Australia is the country where the Indian tourist spends the most per trip, followed by the U.S. and South Africa. According to United Nations World Tourism Organization statistics for 2010, data from Down Under is relevant as it is the country where the average spends/tourist is the highest. Average spend comprises of all expenses incured on the trip like airfare, hotel tariff, food, shopping, etc.

According to data provided by Tourism Australia for the 12-month period ending September 2011, an Indian tourist spent 3.37 lakh on her Australian holiday on average. This is exactly 1 lakh more than what a regular British or American tourist spent in Australia in the same time span. Though the French and Italians spent more than Indians; their average tourist spend was 3.4 lakh and 3.5 lakh. The Chinese beat them with an average spending of 3.9 lakh. The Saudis top the list as each visitor spends around 7.4 lakh on a trip, but there were only some 11,000 of them.

Indian and Chinese tourists outspend those from the U.S., France, Germany and Canada in South Africa. The average amount spent by an Indian tourist was 82, 000, according to the South African Tourism annual report, 2010Compared to that, a German tourist spent 67, 000; for British tourist it was 70, 000 and 78, 000 for American tourists. Countries like Angola, Congo, Swaziland show higher average spending as they buy electronic goods from South Africa, said a tourism official. If the African countries are excluded, then the Chinese top the list of high spenders in South Africa with their average tourist spending 1.23 lakh.