TA enlists agents to woo Chinese independent travellers

TA enlists agents to woo Chinese independent travellers
By admin


Tourism Australia will create an “elite” network of Chinese travel agents that specialise in Australian holiday packages to target a higher yielding genre of “free and independent” travellers from the fast-growing inbound market.

The organisation will work with a targeted group of travel agencies, helping them to develop “new and innovative” Australian tourism products with a “high yield” focus, specifically for the Chinese market.

In the first year, it hopes to sign up between 30 and 35 specialist agents based primarily in the tier 1 cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, along with a selection of tier 2 cities such as Nanjing, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Chengdu and Chongqing.

"We're starting to see a big shift away from lower yielding group travel to more free and independent travel,” TA managing director John O’Sullivan said.

"Increases in independent travelling visitors means more Australian tourism businesses are getting to welcome our Chinese visitors, as they go farther and experience more of our country.”

“The logical next step is to look at distribution, and how this too can be improved to better reach target these independent minded travellers.”

Travel agents have been identified as an important part of TA’s China strategy with the majority of international travel out of China booked through the trade.

TA also launched a major FIT tourism campaign in China in March and has committed additional advertising spending to support the push.

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