Where the hell are they, tourism asks

International tourist numbers to Australia have dropped in the past year but the industry is not asking foreigners "Where the bloody hell are you?" yet.

It is more interested in asking Australians that question.

Too many Australian workers were not going on holidays, federal Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson said while opening the Australian Tourism Exchange trade fair in Melbourne.

"We have 121 million days of accumulated annual leave in Australia," he told reporters on Saturday.

"I scratch my head at times and wonder: why do employers allow that leave to accumulate? Their liability goes up because wages and salaries go up.

"Seventy-five per cent of tourism in Australia is domestic tourism.

"Employees who go on holiday spend quality time with their family and friends, they come back to work better workers and most importantly having a holiday in Australia actually helps keep your mates at work," he said.

Mr Ferguson and Tourism Australia managing director Geoff Buckley admitted it had been a difficult 12 months for the industry due to the global financial crisis.

International tourism is down one per cent over the 12-month period, meaning a drop of about 56,000 visitors from the 5.6 million tourists that come each year.

The government says its figures show tourists are staying longer and spending more so the economy won't be affected.

"International travel is down, that is a fact of life, but in relative terms for the March quarter, Australia had a decline in international visitation of 3 per cent, the UK 12 per cent, USA 10 per cent, Singapore 13 per cent and Japan 27 per cent," Mr Ferguson said.

"We're doing relatively well."

The financial crisis had also ironically made Australia a "good value" destination because its dollar had weakened, Mr Buckley said.

"We have also had price initiatives from the airlines and with accommodation, which has stimulated the market again so people think about travel at least," he said.

"If they have got the money and got the time they'll do it."

Even the tourist trade fair's numbers are slightly down with 22 out of 38 Singaporean tourism buyer companies cancelling, because their government advised them to stay out of Victoria due to its high number of swine flu cases.

However, Mr Buckley said the numbers were almost the same as last year, with about 1,700 Australian tourism operators and 600 wholesale travel agents from around the world showing up.

The tourism industry employs 490,000 Australians directly, contributes 3.6 per cent of GDP and is vital to a significant number of rural-regional communities, Mr Ferguson said.

International tourism contributes $25 billion and domestic $60 billion.