Tourism Australia, the Australian Government agency responsible for attracting international visitors to Australia for leisure and business events, this year celebrates five decades of promoting Australia in key markets across the globe.
The anniversary is timely too with the announcement in Mumbai of the tourism programme for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, in the presence of ace shooter and former Olympic and Commonwealth Gold Medalist, Abhinav Bindra. The Gold Coast is all set to host its first ever Commonwealth Games in 2018 ensuring that the destination provides memorable tourism experiences to sports fans from across the globe.
During the past five decades, Australia has emerged as a leading tourist destination offering world class natural beauty, coupled with unique wildlife, and welcoming people as well as exceptional food and wine experiences for travellers from around the world to enjoy.
Working in partnership with industry, Tourism Australia has seen international tourism to Australia grow from 220,000 international visitors spending around AU$74 million in 1967 to welcoming more than eight million international visitors with AU$39 billion in expenditure in the past year. In more recent times, it is markets like India that have contributed to the continued growth in tourism to Australia alongside longstanding western markets.
Through a range of focused consumer marketing and trade development initiatives, Tourism Australia has been promoting the top tourism experiences across the states of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania along with the Northern Territory, and the nation’s capital – Canberra – to reach the travel trade and potential travellers in key markets globally including India.
John O’Sullivan, Managing Director, Tourism Australia said, “Tourism Australia is incredibly proud to have reached its 50 year milestone and working in partnership with the travel industry to grow tourism to Australia. Our global consumer campaigns such as ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia’ – most recently brought to life with its ‘Aquatic and Coastal’ and ‘Restaurant Australia’ iterations – continue to evolve to showcase some of the very best attractions, experiences and food and wine options Australia has on offer for travellers.
He further added, “However, Australia’s success would not be possible without the incredible support and passion of our trade partners with whom we work with across the globe. In India, we are amplifying our marketing initiatives to reach and attract our growing target audience of prospective travellers to Australia. India is currently the 8th largest inbound market for Australia, and is expected to be within the top 5 markets by 2025, with around 500,000 Indian visitors annually. The increasing visitor numbers from India confirms that we are well placed to achieve our long-term Tourism 2020 targets for arrivals and out of region market share for India, well ahead of time.”
Leanne Coddington, CEO, Tourism & Events Queensland said, “More than 57,000 Indian travellers visited Queensland in the year ending March 2017 and we know many more will come to our state next year for the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast. With eight months until the Opening Ceremony, the Gold Coast is a hive of activity and Queensland is ready to welcome visitors from across the globe, not only to witness world-class sport, but to experience the very best of our tourism offerings. From the iconic Great Barrier Reef, to the beautiful Outback, to the world-heritage listed Fraser Island and our bustling cities, we encourage everyone at next year’s Commonwealth Games to stay on in Queensland and experience the best address on Earth.”
Present at the launch of the Commonwealth Games 2018 tourism program, Abhinav Bindra hopes to see more athletes participating in this international sporting event and particularly encouraging young athletes to excel in Australia, with an aim to bring back numerous medals in all sporting categories while making India proud overseas.
