Mohit Rathod – Mumbai
The South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC), recognising India as one of the key markets, is strengthening its focus on the country. A recent international visitor survey report revealed that South Australia witnessed 10,000 Indian visitors from from last year to March 2016, contributing to a tourism expenditure of AU$ 18 million. With this, India has placed itself among the top 10 source markets for South Australia.
Speaking to Express TravelWorld, Dana Urmonas, regional director, South East Asia & India, SATC, said, “Family and friends is a very big segment for us. India is our second biggest source market in terms of international students, after China – we have about 3,500 Indian students in Adelaide. We are also looking at the couples and honeymoon market. We do target the MICE segment, but not as proactively as other segments. We are quite new to the MICE market in terms of having a strategy in place to attract corporate travellers. We want to focus on the segments which are currently doing well, then explore the corporate travel segment. However, we work with some travel agents in India and they promote MICE as well.”
SATC’s goal this year is to build awareness among Indian travel travellers and the travel trade, increase arrivals and tourism expenditure. Its strategy, in this direction, is to promote the destination through food and wine, open spaces, natural offerings, cultural experiences, fresh travel trade campaigns and exploring Bollywood opportunities. The tourism commission has identified Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai as primary focus markets in India.
SATC has also entered into agreements with Thomas Cook, Flight Shop, Mercury Travels and Ottila International. This was part of its first marketing investments in the India market, started in July 2015. “We are also looking at more travel agencies in India. We also conduct training programmes for the Indian travel trade and are also focusing on consumer awareness, through digital campaigns. We are expecting a positive growth this year,” added Urmonas.
Tourism Australia has forecast India market to be worth over US$ 1.9 billion by 2020. SATC aims to capitalise on this, alongside its ongoing India initiatives. SATC is working in co-ordination with Tourism Australia and Singapore Airlines in order to tap a wider market.
