Tourism Australia launches China 2020 Strategic Plan

Tourism Australia this week launched its China 2020 Strategic Plan, (fittingly) at the inaugural Chinaandnbsp; Australia Tourism Summit held in Cairns.

e-Travel Blackboard was on location as Australia's Minister for Tourism Martin Ferguson unveiled the Plan to delegates from both China and Australia.

The Plan gives the Australian tourism industry a clear direction for investing with Tourism Australia in our strong brand to make the most of the growing tourism business from China, Mr Ferguson said.

According to Mr Ferguson, the Australian tourism industry needs the tools and the education to better service the needs of the Chinese traveller.

The short term future at least, needs to be about congee for breakfast, Chinese speaking tour guides, feng shui room designs including having beds away from the windows and Chinese signage.

Tourism Australia managing director Andrew McEvoy said that as China is the most sought after tourist market, Australia needs to maintain the competitive advantage.

We need to be more than resilient, Mr McEvoy said.

We need to be ambitious, we need to see growth and we need to see profitability.

The Chinaandnbsp; Australia Tourism Strategy 2010 highlights five main themes:
1. Know the customer better than our competitors.
2. Expand our geographic strategy beyond Beijing, Shanghai, Guandong.
3. Provide quality Australian experiences
4. Develop a healthy aviation environment.
5. Grow, build and maintain partnerships.

Jokingly referred to as The Stalker throughout the Summit, Mr McEvoy said past, current and future research into the Chinese consumer's habits would give Australia a competitive advantage over other destinations.

This understanding of the consumer and their spread geographically will eventually see Tourism Australia expand into other regions in China
We currently operate in about thirteen cities and we plan to grow that to more than thirty cities over the next decade, Mr McEvoy said.

Source = etravelblackboard