REORGANISATION is the name of the game at Tourism Australia (TA) China, as the NTO restructures the team and deploys more resources to the robust China market to tighten its hold on the country’s secondary cities.
TA opened its Beijing and Guangzhou offices in September and October respectively, and the Chengdu office is scheduled to begin operations in November.
Meanwhile, its Hong Kong office, headed by Carmen Tam, will shift to focusing solely on the Hong Kong market. Tam continues to report to Eva Huang, existing regional manager, Greater China, who is based in Shanghai.
Johnny Nee, regional general manager, North Asia, TA, will step down next month after 19 years of service. Claire Choi, manager Korea, will report directly to the international division in Sydney following Nee’s departure.
Said Nee: “We will soon see more potential market expanded into secondary cities. The Australian consulate will gain a foothold in Chengdu soon.
He said that the recent signing of an MoU between airports in Chengdu and Melbourne also indicated future development in western China, and that there was potential for Sichuan Airlines to connect the city with Melbourne.
“Our step is for the immediate future and not just for the long term. Indeed, the growth in China is faster than what we expected so we have to manipulate the pulse of the market in addition to (holding) market campaigns,” he said.
Statistics show that the Chinese have been the biggest spenders in Australia since 2010. The first seven months of 2012 saw 370,000 arrivals, making China the second biggest market after New Zealand. The number of Chinese visitors is forecast to hit 620,000 by year-end, and is predicted to hit one million by 2020. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s arrivals from Australia have remained stable between 160,000 and 170,000.
