So where are they all, exactly?
June 3, 2008An article in The Age notes that tourism has flatlined over the past 7 years. The Tourism Minister has pointed out that soaring petrol prices and the strong Aussie dollar are factors in tourism’s decline. I can’t help but wonder whether there’s another much less important factor - Australia’s rising nationalist sentiments.
You only have to look at any thread on Muslims in any Aussie forum to see the rise in Aussie nationalism, and the increasing hostility towards foreigners. Particularly those from Asian countries or the Middle-East. Not to mention the increasing perception abroad of Australians as being obnoxious in their behaviour while overseas. I personally think the perception is totally justified - I’ve seen that behaviour for myself and it ain’t pretty.
So why would foreigners want to visit our country if that’s the kind of hostile welcome they’re going to receive? I don’t think it’s occurred to the Tourism industry yet that if they want to increase their numbers, they might want to look at Australia’s hostile attitude towards non-white foreigners too. Otherwise we’ll become the pariah of both European and Asian tourists.
That is, if we aren’t already.
