Tourism Australia (TA) has seen a strong growth in the last year from Asian markets which have been comparatively less challenged by recession vis-à-vis Europe. Please comment.
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Karyn Kent
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Asia’s economic prospects are estimated to be brighter than the western markets over the next decade. There are enormous opportunities provided by Asia’s fast emerging and increasingly mobile middle classes. Seven out of the top 10 inbound markets in terms of visitor numbers in 2012 were from Asia. Visitors from Asia represented 43 per cent of total international arrivals to Australia with great potential for continued growth from markets like India, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and in time, Vietnam. Difficult economies have no doubt dampened performance out of the UK and Western Europe, but as their economies recover we should start to see the Europeans return in better numbers. TA will retain a balanced portfolio approach to our international marketing in 2013 and beyond.
Which are the new emerging markets for TA? What is the expected growth from these markets?
Our 2020 Strategic Plan identifies south and south east Asian countries, including India, Indonesia and Gulf countries, as key emerging markets which will drive tourism into Australia including India. Till the year 2020, Asia is expected to contribute more than half of the projected growth in international visitation. Most countries in Asia have growing economies with good consumer confidence; burgeoning growth in the middle class, and Australia enjoys strong destination appeal within these markets.
What is the marketing strategy TA plans to use to tap the potential in south east Asia?
Our current global brand campaign, ‘There’s nothing like Australia’, is resonating well. We will continue to build on this campaign with a focus on showcasing ‘Best of Australia’ destinations and experiences through our consumer focused activities while also evaluating opportunities to undertake suitable branded content initiatives that help showcase the destination and experiences in greater depth. In addition to our brand campaign, efforts will also be directed towards fostering aviation partnerships where airlines will be encouraged to advertise their Australian services and we will also have tie ups with our distribution partners.
How does TA view the India outbound market?
The past decade has seen a steady rise in visitor arrivals from India to Australia. Starting from a low base of 41,000 in 2000 Indian arrivals have grown to reach 159,420 visitors in 2012 and is currently the 10th largest inbound market for arrivals into Australia. India is one of the fastest growing outbound travel markets and to effectively tap into this potential, we have developed the India 2020 Strategic Plan to strengthen Australia’s position as a destination of choice amongst Indian long haul leisure travellers.
Long haul holiday travel by Indians is developing fast as global travel is becoming an integral part of the Indian lifestyle; however outbound travel still remains at the nascent stage. Easy access to information also helps to have a rising number of well informed and well researched potential travellers. With an increase in the frequency of travel, Indian travellers are being seen as more willing to experiment and indulge in newer experiences, in moving beyond the typical. However, largely, primary interests in sightseeing and shopping experiences still continue to dominate typical international traveller itineraries.
To aid our understanding of the Indian traveller, we have conducted some research studies that have shown interesting insights into their likes and preferences. We intend to use the findings to tailor our communication to potential travellers from India to influence the choice of their next holiday destination.
As per a recent TA survey, Indians rank Australia as the top nation for safety, natural beauty, friendliness, food and wine. What is TA’s marketing strategy to promote the wine regions in Australia?
Australia’s food and wine are inspired by fresh, natural produce and influenced by our multicultural society. Recent research conducted by TA highlights that global travellers rank food and wine in Australia to be amongst the best in the world. To capitalise on this attractiveness, we recently entered into a partnership with Wine Australia. As part of the MoU, Wine Australia and TA will partner on a range of marketing activities such as advertising and consumer promotions, digital marketing, public relations, and special events.
In India, having associated with the television reality show ‘MasterChef Australia’ as presenting sponsors has helped us increase the appeal of food and wine experiences available in Australia and we will continue play up food and wine in telling the Australian story.
How does Australia compare to south east MICE hotspots like Thailand and Singapore?
Business events is one of the highest yielding sectors in Australia’s visitor economy with a potential to contribute up to $16 billion annually by the year 2020. Australia has a competitive advantage in its native wildlife, coastal lifestyle, vast outback and vibrant cities that are highly motivating reasons for corporate to choose Australia to incentivise their top performers. It offers an exceptional range of top-end corporate meeting experiences and unique incentive options – that provide the perfect atmosphere to reward and energise. With the fast growth of the professional industries and sales based economies across Asia, there is great potential for Australia to attract greater numbers of business events visitors over the next decade. According to data provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Business Events (BE) segment recorded an increase of 11 per cent for 2012 over the previous year.
What will be TA’s marketing spend in 2013? What are the promotions lined up?
In addition to our ongoing ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia’ campaign, we recently launched the ‘Best Jobs in the World’ initiative in association with our state and territory partners. This initiative is a global campaign, predominately targeting the youth sector to consider Australia as a working holiday destination, but at the same time showcases the amazing range of experiences that can be found across Australia. It amplifies our ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia’ message that Australia is a wonderful, world class destination full of unique experiences, adventure and great places to explore. Marketing spends will be commensurate to effectively deliver our planned marketing initiatives.
