AUSTRALIAN TOURISM SHOWS STRONG GROWTH.

According to the Australian Bureau for Statistics (ABS), Australia's number of international tourists increased by 4.2% in the first half of 2007. Large inceases in Chinese and Korean visitors helped the figure reach 2.7 million.

This is all good news for the Government after they invested heavily in the innovating tourism campaign 'So where the Bloody Hell Are You?'

Over the last six months key results include:

180,000 Chinese tourists (up 20%)
133,000 Korean tourists (up 8%)
326,000 South-Eastern Asia tourists (up 11%)

Given the strong Australian Dollar the results were described as "impressive" by Tourist Minister Fran Bailey.

However the number of Japanese tourists fell a further 12.8% in the same 6 month period. These falls have coincided with an 80% currency depreciation of the Australian Dollar to the Yen since the Olympics took place in Sydney.