South Australia continues to record strong growth in the Indian market with a surge in its latest visitor and spend numbers. The International Visitor Survey results released by Tourism Research Australia indicate a 30 per cent rise in the number of Indians travelling to South Australia as of March 2017. Moreover, the Festival State also saw an additional spend of US$23mn as compared to the last year, which is reflected in the steep 130 per cent rise in spends. The average year-on-year growth over the last three years, both in terms of visitor and spend figures, has been steadily increasing at a rate of 8.33 per cent and 39.7 per cent respectively.
Data provided by a recent Consumer Demand Project conducted by Tourism Australia indicate that South Australia has been moving up the consideration set of Indians looking to travel to Australia for leisure purposes. According to the report, Kangaroo Island in South Australia is ranked number three on Indian’s consideration list after Sydney and Melbourne. This can be attributed largely to the marketing efforts by the South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) in India to push awareness for South Australia destinations. The State also won a number of accolades in the last year, including 5th Best Region to Visit in 2017 by Lonely Planet and Adelaide joining the list of Great Wine Capitals, which has cemented it as a must see destination.
Dana Urmonas, Regional Director (India & Southeast Asia), South Australian Tourism Commission said, “India has always been an important growth market for us and we are happy to see Indians increasingly opting to travel to South Australia. This validates the fact that our programs in the last two years, including the exciting collaboration with Star Plus and Balaji for the shoot of Ye Hai Mohabbatein, has paid off. We will continue to focus on the India market and toward this we will be rolling out some exciting initiatives over the next year as well.”
With the recent results, India is now the 8th largest source market for South Australia. When visiting Australia most Indians are looking to spend on experiences that offer world class beauty and nature, family friendly activities and beaches and marine wildlife. South Australia ranks high on these factors and offers a perfect blend of popular as well as off- beat experiences in its key destinations which include Adelaide, Kangaroo Island, Barossa, Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu Peninsula, Mclaren Vale and Eyre Peninsula. Some of the sought after activities in the State include the the RoofClimb over the iconic Adelaide Oval, swimming with dolphins at Glenelg, walking among sea lions at Seal Bay, food & wine experiences at Jacobs Creek or Seppeltsfield and premium stay at the 7 star rated Southern Ocean Lodge.
The SATC will continue to focus on boosting visitors to the State in the next two years continuing its trade and consumer marketing programs to. The target segments for this will include families, honeymooners and independent leisure travellers in the age group of 25-45 in primary markets of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai.
