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The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released figures showing that the country's tourism industry is worth some £85bn (£40bn) to its economy.

Gross value in the tourism industry increased by 7.9% in 2006-07, which was the highest growth rate since 1998-99, according to the figures.

Demand from within Australia increased by 6.8% to reach a value of $63bn, while international consumption of the country's tourism product climbed 9.8% to $22bn.

Australia's travel industry provided work for some 482,800 people in the 2006-07 financial year, an increase of 1.1% on 2005-06.

Christopher Brown, managing director of the Tourism and Transport Forum, told the AAP: 'The success of the national economy will increasingly depend on the performance of the tourism industry, especially in a post-resource boom scenario.

'When the mining boom is over, it is the services sector that will help to carry the Australian economy and the tourism industry is a major component of that.'

Mr Brown stressed that the industry must continue to innovate in order to ensure that challenges to the global economy do not lead to a substantial drop in visitors to Australia.

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