Tourism industry attunes itself to rise and rise of China
Australia’s tourism industry is working to adapt to the opportunities of the ever-expanding Chinese market.
Despite what other Northern Hemisphere markets may be doing, China is roaring ahead as a source of inbound tourists. When China Southern airlines adds more flights later this year, the effect will be magnified.
International arrivals increased in 11 of Australia’s top 20 markets in 2012 and arrivals from China stood out, remaining buoyant and increasing 19.4% in 2011 to 542,000 arrivals, making China Australia’s third largest inbound market behind New Zealand and the United Kingdom, according to official Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures released this week.
To help meet the challenge, the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) will launch what it claims it the first comprehensive, tailored workshop and mentoring program for tourism businesses entering the China market when it hosts the China Development Program in partnership with South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) later this month.
The China effect is particularly apparent in New South Wales. Destination NSW Chief Executive Officer, Sandra Chipchase, welcomed the latest Overseas Arrivals and Departures figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics as confirming that China has maintained its strong visitor growth to NSW.
“In calendar year 2011, there were 260,931 Chinese visitors who spent the majority of their trip in our State,” Chipchase said.
“To see such strong results in our international tourism market from China over the past year is really heartening and is testament to the major marketing push Destination NSW is leading in that important market.
“Destination NSW is continuing its strong engagement with the Chinese market including recent meetings with China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chengdu Municipal Government located in the Sichuan province in central China.
“China Southern Airlines is the third largest airline in the world carrying nearly 80 million passengers per year. Destination NSW met with eight senior executives from the airline to build on our marketing partnership and discuss future opportunities to work together to bring more Chinese visitors to NSW.
“We have also recently struck arrangements with long-haul budget airlines Scoot and AirAsia X to commence daily services to Sydney, which will increase inbound airline capacity by over 500 seats per day from Asian hub cities.”
Destination NSW is also partnering with industry stakeholders in the following initiatives to attract visitors to NSW from China.
- A $1.6 million marketing campaign with partners China Southern Airlines and Tourism Australia to promote Sydney and NSW to consumers in mainland China during 2012.
- A similar campaign with China Southern Airlines generated passengers to visit NSW on itineraries of two nights in Sydney and one night in regional NSW, which was particularly popular for group tours.
- Sydney will feature as a “must visit” destination in the February edition of China Eastern Airlines’ in-flight magazine.
- In February, Destination NSW will partner with Tourism Queensland for a joint trade mission to China, to promote Sydney and NSW as a great holiday destination to Chinese travel agents.
- Destination NSW is also running a joint marketing campaign with China-based tour operator, Shanghai Bus Tours, promoting the Legendary Pacific Coast touring route. Shanghai Bus Tours has recently launched this holiday package which includes overnight breaks in Port Stephens and Port Macquarie.
- Destination NSW is partnering with Virgin Atlantic and Opera Australia to promote the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour event which opens in March 2012, and the Royal Easter Show to Hong Kong consumers.
“The Chinese visitor market to Australia is expected to grow at an average rate of 7.8% per year and Chinese visitor arrivals to Australia are expected to reach close to one million by 2020.
“Destination NSW is working hard to capitalise on that growing source market and maintain NSW as the leading destination for Chinese visitors,” Chipchase said.
In South Australia, meanwhile, the ATEC program will provide valuable support to South Australian tourism businesses to maximise the enormous potential of this ever-growing Chinese market.
“The China market is unrelenting and Australia has a huge opportunity to benefit significantly. The challenge will be in providing the necessary support, mentoring and capacity building for tourism businesses to successfully navigate this new and complex market,” ATEC Managing Director, Felicia Mariani said.
“ATEC has developed the first-ever program that acknowledges the varying levels of preparedness of tourism operators across Australia to effectively engage with China and other Eastern markets. This comprehensive learning and development program critically and objectively analyses the readiness of a business to prepare, negotiate and engage with the opportunities presented by China and other important Asian markets.
“We are offering these businesses significant support in moving into new markets, building their capacity and knowledge including insights into how Chinese visitors view Australia, who are their best customers for their products and how to most effectively attract the right customers for their businesses.
“Businesses will be assessed and streamed according to their experience and export readiness and they will be helped through the three stages of the course program with a view to reassessing their progress in 6-months’ time.”
At ATEC, Mariani noted that the latest ABS figures on international arrivals showed China remained the strongest growing market over the past 12 months with a 15.5% increase year-on-year.
“There is no mistaking it, we must be focused on China and the opportunities it offers while expanding the other opportunities in Asia and shoring up our engagement with our traditional markets. This is a challenge for our international marketing efforts as well as for Australia’s tourism businesses.
“Our future is full of opportunities, not only from the new and emerging markets in Asia, but from our traditional source markets including the UK and the US which still rank as some of our top source countries.
“ATEC is pleased to be partnering with the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and Fastrak Asian Solutions in offering the China Development Program to the South Australian tourism industry, the first state to offer this product to its local tourism businesses.
“We are excited to launch this opportunity in South Australia and to provide local tourism businesses with the support and guidance needed to work effectively in the Asian market. ATEC looks forward to rolling this program out nationally, delivering a program that is highly tailored to tourism businesses and providing the much needed mentoring and support to connect with distribution channels in China.”
Edited by Peter Needham
