SYDNEY, Oct. 29 -- More tourists from China, India and Singapore is expected to help drive strong growth in inbound tourism to Australia in the current financial year, said a report released on Wednesday.

The report from the Tourism Research Australia (TRA) predicted growth of 10.5 percent for China, 6.6 percent for India and 5.8 percent for Singapore.

Last year, Asian markets accounted for 47 percent of total Australian tourism exports, which totaled a record expenditure of 30 billion Australian dollars (26.6 billion U.S. dollars), up 7 percent from the previous year.

Growth in total expenditure by Asian visitors was driven by increased spending on package tours, education and shopping to take home adding an additional 500 million Australia dollars (443. 3 million U.S. dollars) in 2013-14.

Despite a decrease in average length of stay, down 3.9 nights, Asian visitors spent more on average per night than visitors from western markets. Growth in arrivals was strongest for visitors from Singapore, China and Malaysia up 18.2 percent, 10.0 percent and 8.9 percent, respectively.

Total education expenditure from foreign students grew 2.5 percent, despite a fall in arrivals, down 2.1 percent to 360,000 visitors, and was driven by solid growth in average trip expenditure, up 4.6 percent to 17,895 Australian dollars (15,869 U. S. dollars) per visitor.

Education visitors from China showed the strongest improvement, with a 7.2 percent increase in average trip expenditure.

On the local front, Australian domestic tourists spent 72 billion Australian dollars (63.8 billion) touring their own country, up 3 percent from the year before.

"This year's report shows a continuation of the trend we have observed over the past five years -- an increase across both domestic and international sectors to a record 102 billion Australian dollars (90.4 billion U.S. dollars) in total visitor expenditure," said Tim Quinn, assistant general manager of TRA.

"Demand for the Australian tourism experience is influenced by factors such as income, exchange rates, and product satisfaction, and importantly, demand needs to be supported by improvements in supply."