The data released in June, shows year ending March 2022, the number of domestic tourists who bird-watched in our country has skyrocketed by 40 per cent in 12 months, up to 751,000 people.
And tourists who bird-watched helped the Aussie economy by spending $414 million in that one year alone.
At least four years’ worth of data now shows nature-based activities consistently dwarf active outdoor sports activities in terms of number of participants and spend.
The domestic data is in addition to international figures, which pre-COVID, showed a further 608,000 international tourists bird-watched in Australia and spent a whopping $2.6 billion.
This latest nature-based tourism data comes just after the Commonwealth Government’s State of The Industry report published last month, which warned “the visitor economy faces serious labour shortages and increased international competition”.
The government’s “Thrive 2030 Strategy” aims to see the visitor economy spend reach $230 billion by 2030.
Ms Allen said the solution was obvious: “It’s time we protected and valued our wildlife”.
Kerrie Allen’s family has lived in regional Victoria across generations.
With a love of the bush and a penchant for the finance sector, she takes a keen interest in the social and economic factors influencing regional Victoria.
Kerrie is a long-time member of, and a spokesperson for, not-for-profit group Regional Victorians Opposed to Duck Shooting inc.
