Indian tourists are flocking to Australia in record numbers, mirroring the steep increase in Chinese arrivals seen in recent years.

This chart from Commsec shows that on an annual rolling basis, more than 300,000 Indian citizens arrived in Australian last year.

That was up a massive 15.3% on the level of a year earlier, and faster than the 13.3% growth recorded in Chinese arrivals over the same period.

However, while Indian tourist arrivals are growing at a faster percentage pace than China, at 302,900, they were still around 1.08 million less than their slightly more populous neighbour in numeric terms.

Still, as Ryan Felsman, Senior Economist at Commsec points out, there’s plenty of upside potential for Indian arrivals in the years ahead.

“India will be the world’s fastest growing economy over the next few years,” he says. “As GDP per capita grows, so does the propensity to travel, offering huge potential for Australian tourism.”

And with the Indian cricket team touring next summer, the strong growth recorded in 2017 could be even even faster in the year ahead.

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