Leo Seaton, Manager Media Relations, Tourism Australia (TA), says, “Tourism is Australia’s largest export earner and employs one million Australians.”
With a significant contribution of A$34 billion (Dh128.17 billion) to the economy, which adds up to 2.6 per cent of the GDP, Australia falls within the strongest performing tourism region and largest aviation market in the world. Fully aware of this fact, the country is poised to take advantage of the exciting prospects being created through the powerhouse economies of Asia, and the aviation expansion opportunities presenting themselves in the Middle East.
On an economic platform, where industries are normally classified according to their production, tourism is unique, as its output is determined by consumption spending. In this case, Australia has the highest spend per trip from international visitors and ranks 48th in the world for visitor arrivals. And there is no denying TA’s role in driving these numbers as it continuously strives to emphasise not only the experiences that differentiate Australia from other countries, but also the key value propositions that make the country such a worthwhile tourism experience, says Geoff Dixon, Chairman, Tourism Australia.
Keeping their eye on the ball, TA launched the 2020 Tourism Industry Potential plan to encourage growth in the industry over the next decade and to help improve the impact of market downturns and currency fluctuations.
Ambitious yet achievable, the strategy focuses on doubling overnight visitor expenditure from $70 billion (Dh257.04 billion) to $140 billion by 2020. The initiative, says Dixon, is a “call to arms” to not only increase tourism but also to boost the investment and job numbers that will sustain the industry.
Spreading wings
A huge step in achieving this goal is improving aviation capacity and international access along with a critical need to adapt to the ongoing dynamics of the global aviation industry, says Andrew McEvoy, Managing Director, Tourism Australia. Overall, international air seats to Australia have grown 15 per cent in the past two years, ensuring TA is on track to reach its 2020 target.
This June, Reuters reported, Etihad Airways bought a 4 per cent stake in Virgin Australia for $35.6 million via market purchases. At that point, James Hogan, Etihad’s chief executive told the agency the airline would like to take its stake to a minimum of 10 per cent. And that is exactly what happened last month. In a push to increase its global presence, Etihad Airways doubled its stake in Virgin Australia and bought 221 million shares in the open market, bringing its stake in the Australian carrier to 10 per cent.
In another major development, Qantas and Emirates recently forged an alliance on European routes that essentially means that the Australian carrier’s hub will move from Singapore to Dubai in March 2013. This alliance, which is being touted as deeper than a straightforward code-share arrangement, will bring back profitability for Qantas. In return Emirates gets a strong foothold in the face of regional competition and maintains its strong presence Down Under.
Brand Australia
Geographically, Australia is within what is being recognised as the strongest performing tourism area in the world. The Asia Pacific region was the first to recover from the recent global downturn and is the strongest growing region in the past couple of years. To sustain such an industry is no small feat. TA has a budget of around A$130 million a year, of which most goes into marketing Australia at home and overseas.
TA’s global campaign, There’s Nothing Like Australia, which aims to present the best of Australia, uses new creative to showcase distinctive and high quality Australian tourism, says Seaton.
“The starring role of the new creative is Australia’s best natural and man-made attractions. The new creative shows a more contemporary, sophisticated, energetic and inspiring Australia and presents a stronger image of the quality experiences available to consumers when they visit Australia for a holiday.”
And what better proof can there be of the colossal success of the campaign than the impressive numbers that add up to an industry that was worth $96 billion in 2011, adds Babak Khosravi, Marketing Manager, Middle East, Australian Trade Commission (Austrade). “This includes $23 billion in inbound tourism and $73 billion for outbound, with a total visitor count of 5.9 million last year.”
The new phase of the campaign targets Australia’s key consumer audience by highlighting examples of what is unique and different about Australia, including accommodation options and facilities, the glamour and excitement of its contemporary cities, globally renowned food and wine, and magnificent natural wonders.
“[This is] an approach we believe will resonate particularly well with Asia’s growing affluent middle class, especially in key markets such as China, across Southeast Asia and the fast emerging markets of India, Indonesia, Brazil, Argentina and Russia,” points out Seaton.
Currently, Australia’s biggest inbound markets for tourism remain New Zealand at 1,172,700 visitor arrivals in 2011. The UK clocked in 608,300, while 542,000 Chinese visited last year, alongside 456,200 Americans and 332,700 visitors from Japan.
The UAE connection
While in no way comparable to the established inbound markets, there is a 16.1 per cent increase in visitors from the UAE in the first half of this year, bringing the figure to 29,600 tourists, says Seaton. >
The UAE is Australia’s 21st largest market and is growing rapidly.
“While numbers are relatively small at the moment, UAE visitors who do come are known to spend a lot of money on their trips.”
According to the latest International Visitor Survey, the average spend is $4,598 per visitor from the region. The total spend between 2000 and 2020 is expected to grow by 335 per cent.
More than half of the tourism footfall is leisure, with business visitors constituting 20 per cent of the numbers. Leisure traffic peaks during the summer and Ramadan, with the Gold Coast in Queensland being the most popular destination.
Symbiotic relationship
Seaton says that the growth of Middle Eastern airlines, including Emirates and Etihad, has made it much easier for UAE citizens to travel to Australia.
The alliance between Etihad and Virgin Australia in particular has helped Australia become a preferred destination for UAE travellers.
The aviation alliance exhilaration is not in isolation and has a close symbiotic relation with the efforts pumped in by the Australian government to ensure that tourism remains the largest services export earner.
As is evident, the Middle East is not even in the running, but while the number remains negligible compared to other markets, this is a region that is being wooed aggressively.
“Visitors from the GCC and the UAE are both holiday makers and business people,” says Khosravi.
“The Gold Coast is particularly very popular with visitors from the region. The opening up of an Arab tourism lounge by Gold Coast Tourism office last year, complete with halal food, traditional shisha and prayer mats, is one example of the initiatives undertaken to lure more visitors from the Middle East.”
And like everybody else, Khosravi too waits in anticipation to see how the newly announced alliance between Qantas and Emirates will impact the size and profile of visitors from the Middle East to Australia.
