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NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 22:

        India showed strong growth for Australian tourism during 2006, according to international visitor arrivals data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

        Significantly, India was the star performer in terms of arrivals with 83,700 visitors from India for the year ending December 2006, an increase of 23 per cent over last year. While number of Indian arrivals to Australia is relatively small, strong growth in arrivals was also experienced i 2004 and 2005. There were 5.5 million visitor arrivals to Australia during calender year 2006, an increase of 1 per cent relative to 2005.

        'With the opening of an office in India this year, Tourism Australia expects continued growth in India visitor arrivals this year,' Tourism Australia's regional manager Maggie White.

        'Our marketing programmes are primarily aimed at driving destination visibility and evoking a sense of excitement amongst Indians to visit Australia,' Abhilash Jain, manager for Tourism Australia in India.