The proceeds of tourism were worth $72billion, or about 5 per cent of the country's gross domestic product, to the Australian economy in 2009-10, new statistics show.
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The latest research from Tourism Research Australia reveals that the direct proceeds from tourism in that year were at $33.9 billion, an increase of 3.2 per cent on the previous period.
Indirect proceeds, or funds generated because of tourism but through other industries, totalled $37.8 billion.
Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson said the sector was often overlooked but the figures proved what a significant money-maker tourism was for Australia.
''It is clear that efforts to help tourism grow by cutting red tape, boosting skills and improving the quality and offering of tourism products will produce huge flow-on benefits,'' Mr Ferguson said.
The tourism industry is seen by statisticians as one of the top multipliers of the economy with an output value of 1.91. This means that for every dollar tourism creates, another 91c is generated somewhere else, ranking it higher than retail (1.80) and mining (1.67).