Arrivals looking good, but don’t slack: Tourism Australia

Arrivals looking good, but don’t slack: Tourism Australia

Total international arrivals into Australia in 2014 were impressive, but there’s still plenty of work to be done to hit 2020 targets.

Some 6.9 million international visitors travelled to Australia in 2014, up 7.6% from 2013 figures but Tourism Australia managing director, John O’Sullivan said while the performance was “remarkable” in the face of fierce competition from 190 other destinations “all vying for a slice of the global tourism pie”, the national body is focussed on the cementing growth in the future.

“You have to go back a decade to see international arrivals growing at this sort of level,” O’Sullivan said.

“The industry deserves great credit for delivering such impressive numbers, but now certainly isn’t the time to look back.”

“There’s still a lot of hard work to be done if we’re going to hit our Tourism 2020 targets, and our focus is very much about the future.”

O’Sullivan said fundamentally Australia “is a destination with enormous appeal – assets such as our world-class natural beauty, great food and wine, warm and welcoming people”, but they are only a competitive advantage if they can be successfully converted into more visitation.

“Particularly from high yielding visitors likely to stay longer, travel deeper and spend more during their trips,” he said.

“I think we’ve shown with Restaurant Australia, that if you identity an opportunity and really go hard, you can deliver impressive results.”

O’Sullivan said that TA was already planning its next marketing salvo, which would sit alongside and complement its ongoing food and wine push, and which would shine light on Australia’s diverse aquatic and coastal experiences.

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