Rituparna Chatterjee – Mumbai
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Leigh Harry
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Tourism Australia in collaboration with Tourism Victoria will launch their global campaign – Restaurant Australia, for another year. The campaign is part of their strategy to promote food and wine as a tourism product. The campaign will be run by Tourism Australia and is due to start in September-October this year. This world-wide campaign, promoted mainly through social media, will be tailored to individual countries. In India, the campaign will be focused more towards metros and Tier II cities. “From Victoria’s point-of-view we have a strong focus on the India market. We are seeing a growing interest among Indians towards niche products like food and wine,” stated Leigh Harry, chief executive, Tourism Victoria on the sidelines of their Super Trade Mission 2014, held in Mumbai.
Furthermore, the Victorian Government will be developing travel packages to Melbourne as part of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 to be held across Australia and New Zealand from February to March 2015. The travel packages will be developed in partnership with major trade partners in India. To promote Melbourne, Tourism Victoria has launched a digital campaign for the India market, ‘Come Alive in Melbourne’ to engage consumers through social media. “Melbourne is now a destination of choice for Indian tourists, migrants, students and investors. It is a sophisticated, creative, surprising and romantic city, renowned for its restaurants, cafe culture, theatre and diverse art and cultural events. Victoria offers a variety of tourism experiences that are all close to Melbourne, such as the spectacular Great Ocean Road and the iconic penguins at Phillip Island Nature Park,” opined Harry.
When asked where India stands as a source market for Victoria, Harry stated, “India is one of the strongest markets for Victoria. It is also one of Victoria’s fastest growing inbound tourism markets. For the year ending September 2013, there were 73,000 visitors from India to Victoria, an increase of 9.2 per cent from the previous year, with an associated spend of US$ 205 million in the state.”
