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Outbound
Tourism Australia to focus on incentive travel
Jyoti Koul - New Delhi
The latest international destination to set up a dedicated tourism office in
India is Australia. Even though Tourism Australia (TA) has been very active
over the years as far as the Indian market is concerned, but it is now looking
at opening its office in Mumbai before the end of this year. The board is also
looking at tapping the incentive segment after education, leisure and visiting
friends & relatives (VFR).
Maggie White, general manager (South/SE Asia and Gulf countries), TA who was
in New Delhi to promote 'Taste of Australia' said, "Since Australia is
a premium long haul tourist destination, we are planning to market it as a destination
for incentive travellers. Earlier, we were not targeting this segment as aggressively
as we are planning to do now. Realising the potential of this market and the
expertise of TA in handling the incentive business, we are now focusing on this
segment. It is a new and growing target market for us and we offer value to
the clients." Besides incentive groups, it is also focusing on upscale
family groups and honeymooners.
As part of its marketing strategy, TA is building partnerships with the travel
trade. It has identified 500 special agents across India from 140 agencies in
27 key cities to help market the destination. Talking about the target markets,
White mentioned that it is looking at secondary cities like Ahmedabad, Pune,
Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai. Besides, Delhi and Mumbai continues
to remain its primary markets.
Australia is among the top five aspirational destinations for Indian travellers
and among the 5.5 million tourists visiting Australia during the 2006 calendar
year, India 's contribution was 83,700. Going by the estimates of Tourism Forecasting
Council of Australia, the destination is likely to receive over 91,000 visitors
from India by the end of the year. The arrivals from India are predicted to
do well with an average annual growth rate of 15.6 per cent through to the year
2015.
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