UK travellers rank Australia dead last despite major advertising push
It looks like British travellers have brought their love affair with Australia to an abrupt end, with new research revealing Britons now rank us dead last on their list of desired destinations.
The news comes off the back of Tourism Australia’s most recent push to get US and UK travellers to return to our shores with the launch of its “Don’t go small. Go Australia” campaign.
Launching the campaign, Dan Tehan, the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment said the world has been waiting to holiday Down Under for two years, and this latest advertising push would “remind them of what they’ve been missing”.
However, research conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies has indicated it might take more than a handsome new ad to get UK travellers back on board.
The research, which was provided exclusively to the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age, was based on a survey of 1,500 Britons who, despite most being aware that Australia was due to reopen its borders for tourists soon, showed little interest in travelling here.
The majority of respondents ranked Australia last, behind North and South America, Asia, Africa and Europe.
Of those surveyed, 63 per cent said they planned to travel in the next three months, with 40 per cent intending to head abroad.
Of those journeying beyond the UK, 78 per cent said they would travel to Europe, 15 per cent said they would head to North America, 12 per cent will holiday in Asia and 10 per cent chose Africa.
Only six per cent said they would travel to Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland or Adelaide and 70 per cent said they would not even consider travelling to Australia next year, mostly due to the cost and distance of making the journey.
On the flip side, only 10 per cent said Australia’s COVID-19 restrictions made it a less desirable holiday destination and 13 per cent even said the country’s management of the pandemic made it more desirable.
In 2019, Britain was one of our top sources of tourism dollars, behind China, New Zealand and the US.
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
britain Dan Tehan inbound Redfield & Wilton Strategies research tourism tourism australia ukLatest News
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