In an attempt to further strengthen the tourism and economic ties between India and Australia, the representatives of the two countries renewed the Australia-India Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tourism Cooperation today. 

Australia, by means of the MoU, aims to further increase visitor numbers and support local jobs and business by growing one of its largest and most valuable tourist markets. The MoU was signed by the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan and India&rsquos Minister for Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal. 

&ldquoIndia was Australia&rsquos fastest growing source of international visitors, with Australia welcoming almost 400,000 visitors from India in 2019,&rdquo said Tehan. He also further emphasised that the Indian visitor market had huge potential for Australia.

&ldquoIn 2019, India was our sixth most valuable market for spend, contributing $1.8 billion to our economy. Our countries also share important people-to-people links, with around 750,000 people of Indian origin calling Australia home,&rdquo he added. 

The MoU will also help encourage more Indian visitors to Australia and the capabilities of Australian tourism businesses. Not only this both the governments will also work with airlines and airports to boost aviation capacity between Australia and India.

&ldquoHosting the T20 cricket World Cup this year will be a fantastic opportunity to encourage more Indian tourists and business travellers to visit the country. Australia is working with India to strengthen our ties in many areas, and it&rsquos timely to include tourism as Australia reopens its international borders to the world,&rdquo he added. 

Australia will reopen its borders to foreign travellers on February 21 after one of the strictest lockdowns across the globe.