Partnerships key to success

The continued growth of Australian tourism plays an increasingly important role in the economic wellbeing of our country. As a sector, Tourism is now growing faster than the Australian Economy as a whole – it is no longer a potential super industry, its time is now. Almost 8 million international visitors came to Australia over the last year. Of course inbound tourism growth and aviation capacity go hand in hand. In recent times, we’ve seen significant annual increases in capacity in some of our key markets, including Japan (19 per cent), China (26 per cent), and the USA (11 per cent). Increasing aviation capacity in a sustainable way is key to achieving our industry’s Tourism 2020 goals, which is why Tourism Australia works so closely with airports and airlines as well as our state and territory tourism partners to ensure supply increases with demand. This ‘Team Australia’ approach to aviation development focuses around long term strategic agreements, co-operative marketing partnerships and supporting the development of new routes. It’s an approach that’s been critical to the success we’ve enjoyed in recent years and, I’m proud to say, something we’ve been recognised for internationally. Tourism Australia recently secured the ‘Best Destination Marketing’ award for the fourth year running at Routes Asia, the world’s leading conference on route development opportunities. To be considered the best in this field is a great honour, one we share equally with our partners, and for us these accolades are acknowledgment that the ‘Team Australia’ approach to securing new routes and additional aviation capacity is successful and considered ‘best practice’. In the past 12 months we’ve generated close to $80 million in revenue from industry partners, with more over 30% of this delivered through significant aviation agreements. This includes international airlines such as Air New Zealand, Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, Etihad Airways and Singapore Airways. And, closer to home, Qantas and Virgin Australia. It’s great to be working with Australia’s two leading airlines once again. Both carriers are critical to the overall success of the Australian Tourism industry, both domestically and internationally. What’s exciting about these agreements is our focus on data sharing which will allows us to target consumers with the right message at the right time, supported by a great aviation offer. Tourism Australia now enjoys co-operative marketing relationships with most of the largest international carriers serving Australia from its key tourism markets. In fact, last year saw Tourism Australia work with 20 airlines, resulting in more than A$40 million dollars being collectively invested in long term strategic agreements for joint marketing campaigns. Our aviation partnerships are supported by Tourism Australia’s work with the international travel trade. We now have more than 22,000 agents worldwide become qualified ‘Aussie Specialists’, utilising our newly relaunched platform. In Asia we have established a Key Distribution Partner network across China, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and India. We maintain a strong Australian presence at key travel events such as ITB, WTM and Corroboree events, and have launched important partnerships with OTAS such as Expedia, Alitrip and Make My Trip. Last year alone, Tourism Australia and our KDP partners jointly spend over $30 million in promoting Australia. Partnership agreements of this scale secure significant funds towards our international marketing and distribution activities. It means we have more money to do what we do best – promote our country through our global ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia’ marketing campaign.

Increasing aviation capacity in a sustainable way is key to achieving our industry’s Tourism goals...’ 2020