Australia to Renew Focus on Indian and Chinese Middle Class Tourists

Australia is set to renew its focus on wooing the cash rich middle class population of India and China at the Australian Tourism Directions conference in Canberra. According to a PTI report, the conference, to be held from tomorrow, will also analyse the progress of plans to double overnight visitor spending to USD 140 billion by 2020.

“Now more than ever we need to remain focused on the big picture improvements that can enhance the long-term competitiveness of the sector,” said Martin Ferguson, Federal Tourism Minister, Government of Australia. He added that the conference will renew the industry's focus on Asia and the rise of China as Australia's most valuable tourism market.

“It will also examine the need for more and better hotel accommodation, for higher investment in destinations and for increasing aviation capacity,” Ferguson said. Andrew McEvoy, Head, Tourism Australia will discuss the challenges of ensuring that Australia creates a long lasting appeal to global travellers.

A new report released by Tourism Research Australia has revealed that tourism's total contribution to the Australian economy in 2009/10 was USD 71.7 billion, or around 5.6 per cent of GDP.

Miss Tourism Australia 2011 NSW Preliminary at Roselands Shopping Centre

The Miss Tourism Australia 2011 NSW Preliminary at Roselands Shopping Centre.

Metro Hotels staff were in attendance, Mr Ricky Risal (Aspire Hotel Sydney Manager) who was one of four judges for this event and Mr Richard Amour (Business Development Manager).
Behind the Miss Tourism pageant are the producers of Miss Universe Australia, who use this competition to promote tourism and cultural exchange and find the Australian finalist to be entered into the international Miss Tourism pageant.

Judges for the competition include industry experts Carmel Pizzino of Dancing with the Stars fame; Peter Sereno the pageant expert who aided Jennifer Hawkins to her 2004 win; Sylvia Lee of Sylvia Lee Couture, designer and creators of this year’s Miss Universe Australia evening gown; and international model booker Rick O’Brien.

Contestants will be scored on three sections: Sportswear, Eveningwear and a Personality question and answer session. Fashion items will be provided by Centro Roselands retailers including Portmans, Sportsgirl, Myer, Target and Gigi’s Shoes.

Centro Roselands Marketing Manager, Marina Majeran encourages girls to come down and be a part of the competition. “It is such a great opportunity for our local customers to join in the major pageant; who knows, they could even take the title and become Australia’s newest worldwide tourist ambassador”.

Latest Events News for Sydney

Over the past few weeks, a range of event-related announcements have been made for Sydney, highlights include:



The second annual Sydney International Art Series was launched today. The Art Gallery of NSW will present the biggest Pablo Picasso exhibition to ever come to Australia (November to March) and an exhibition by Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer will be held at the Museum of Contemporary Art (December to February).



Football Federation Australia announced a four-year partnership with the NSW Government that features the hosting of three 2014 FIFA World CupTM Asian qualifiers in Sydney.



The first game under the new agreement will see the Qantas Socceroos play Oman on 11 October 2011.



Royal Sydney Golf Club at Rose Bay will host the Davis Cup World Group Play-off between Australia and Switzerland from 16 to 18 September 2011.



Tiger Woods will head to Sydney in November to play in the Australian Open. He will join defending champion Geoff Ogilvy and Greg Norman at the event which is on 10 to 13 November at the Lakes Golf Club in Sydney.

Tourism Boost, or Just a Phantom of the Oprah?

OPRAH Winfrey's imprimatur has launched careers, spawned business empires and raised millions of dollars for charity, but the ''Oprah effect'' has not revived Australia's flagging tourism industry in the US.

The number of visiting Americans continues to fall, despite claims from Tourism Australia that the talk show star's tour last year was worth $360 million in global publicity. The Sunday Age can also reveal that Tourism Australia's chief, Andrew McEvoy, gave a reporter incorrect US arrival figures for May, which he claimed was the first sign of the campaign's success.

Industry experts are questioning the $5 million taxpayer-funded tour, with some saying the money should have been spent on the booming Chinese market.

US arrivals for the first five months of 2011 fell by 0.8 per cent, compared with the same period last year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The dip was even more pronounced in Britain and Canada, where Winfrey's Ultimate Australian Adventure also aired in January.

Canadian arrivals from January to May 2011 fell by 5.1 per cent year on year, while British arrivals dropped by 4.6 per cent.

Mr McEvoy was contradicted by bureau figures for May, which revealed US arrivals had fallen by 2.1 per cent. He had told The Australian newspaper that the number of American travellers had jumped by 4 per cent in May.

''Visitor numbers for May are up about 4 per cent out of the US and that's really the first indication,'' he said. The Winfrey impact ''comes from now'', he said.

A spokesman for Mr McEvoy blamed the error on a ''slip of the tongue'', but later said the reporter could have mistakenly used US arrival figures from April.

''I tried to discourage her from making too much of one month of arrivals figures,'' said Tourism Australia media manager Leo Seaton. ''But she led with it, and made it sound as if Andrew was talking it all up, which he wasn't.''

Tourism Victoria distanced itself from the strategy, saying the decision to finance it was made by the former state government. Several other state-based tourism groups are seething about the attention given to NSW and Queensland by Winfrey and her entourage of 300 guests.

Western Australia is believed to have hosted two of Winfrey's ''ultimate fans''. South Australia and Tasmania received 16 and six respectively.

''It reinforced the old stereotype of tropical beaches, koalas and the Harbour Bridge,'' said one state tourism executive, who asked not to be named. ''Isn't it time we came up with something a bit more sophisticated?'' Mr McEvoy told The Sunday Age he was confident Winfrey's global reach would deliver long-term returns for Australia, but said the impact had been delayed by the still ailing US economy.

''As we've said all along, the 'Oprah effect' was never going to be an instant phenomenon, and we believe the full impact will be seen over many years to come,'' he said.

But Tourism Australia's assessment was far more upbeat during Winfrey's trip and in the aftermath of the four-part series that screened in 145 countries earlier this year. Mr McEvoy said in March: ''This has hit the right spot … We haven't opened the champagne - I have looked at the bottle and maybe in the next few months we'll crack it.''

Tony Charters, convener of the Tourism and Events Excellence Conference to be held in Melbourne in September, said the industry needed a ''comprehensive reboot''.

''While the US and Europe will always be important, we need to fundamentally change the way we approach markets in China and south-east Asia,'' he said.

Winfrey's Harpo Productions did not respond to questions from The Sunday Age.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/travel/travel-news/tourism-boost-or-just-a-phantom-of-the-oprah-20110716-1hjbh.html#ixzz1SPx58zq3

Singapore TV Series to Promote NSW

As part of the There’s Nothing Like Australia campaign, Tourism NSW has been working with Tourism Australia and travel agency Chan Brothers to showcase Australian food and wine on Singapore’s top-rating travelogue, Food Source.

The program is a series of one hour television episodes featuring famous food and ingredients from various countries. It has consistently achieved a high number of TV viewers since its first season in 2010. It also won awards for Best Variety Show and Best Variety Show Host in Singapore.

The NSW part of the program goes on air from today to 6 July in Singapore, where the host will bring viewers on the food discovery trail of Sydney Fish Market; Montrose Berry Farm, Li Sun Mushrooms and Cedar Creek Juice in the Southern Highlands; Saliba & Bilpin Fruit Bowl and Broken Bay Oysters in the Blue Mountains/Hawkesbury; and Bon Appetitte Snails in the Hunter Valley. Chan Brothers has developed packages for people to book tours to the experiences featured in the program.

Source: Tourism NSW Insights, 22 June 2011