Australia is high yield, not mass volume: ATE 2012

Tourism Australia managing director Andrew McEvoy outlined Australia’s national strategy to grow competitiveness and build industry resilience at the Australian Tourism Exchange 2012.

Tourism 2020 is a joint industry and government initiative being carried out by Tourism Australia and is a long-term plan to develop growth markets and increase yield.

“We are not a mass volume destination... We're a high yielding destination that must have an accent on quality of experiences.

“We are number one for visitor spend worldwide,” Mr McEvoy said.

In achieving this 2020 strategy, Tourism Australia has gone beyond marketing and advertising and are seeking out what the country needs to do in order to get ahead.

“When my organisation was set up in 1967, I would argue that Australia was one of the pioneers of tourism marketing but those simpler times have become more complex.

“The consumer now has more power in their hands and we have to be smarter, cleverer and more aggressive to do better in a much more competitive world,” Mr McEvoy said.

Mr McEvoy said Tourism Australia was intent on delivering what is best for the country as a whole and the 2020 strategy aims to provide a dedicated industry uplift.

“When we looked at our 2020 goals, we looked at which markets would deliver yield, dollars, growth and profitability for our industry, not volume alone.

“We looked at the assets and what products Australia needs, both beautiful and natural but also man-made, to cater for the business we’re receiving now but more importantly into the future and how we can continue to create demand.”

Growth markets for Australia now include India, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam and more.

“We’re also seeing growth out of Latin America and we’re seeing a bounce-back in our great traditional markets such as the US, Japan and Korea,” Mr McEvoy said.

In terms of access into Australia, air access is essential and Tourism Australia has conducted research into what is needed to support positive growth and competitiveness.

“During our 2020 strategy we learnt that we need 54 percent more international aviation access into our country and we need 25 percent more domestic seats flying around our country,” Mr McEvoy said.

In 2010 when TA launched the 2020 strategy, the organisation also launched their new campaign ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia’.

“The world travels to experience difference, so let’s for goodness sake highlight what’s different, what’s interesting, what’s fashionable, what’s new, what’s sexy and what’s amazing about our country in comparison to other places around the world,” Mr McEvoy said.

Sourced: etravelblackboardasia