TOURISM Australia will up the ante in Indonesia by establishing a physical presence in the market by year-end and by spending significantly more money on wooing Indonesian visitors.

According to Tourism Australia managing director, Andrew McEvoy, strong efforts would continue to be expended in the mature markets of Singapore and Malaysia, but an increased focus would be placed on Indonesia, the second fastest-growing source of arrivals for the country after China.

“Indonesia is a strong market for Australia. We have good aviation access and Jakarta has a lucrative middle class,” said McEvoy, adding that the marketing budget set aside for Indonesia in the 2012/2013 financial year was 150 per cent more compared to the year before.

This year, the cornerstone of Tourism Australia’s initiatives in Asia is the second iteration of its brand campaign, There’s Nothing Like Australia, which already debuted in China earlier this month. It will be progressively introduced to the rest of the region.

McEvoy conceded that the NTO had been inconsistent in its brand campaigns during the first decade, but promised that this one was here to stay for “the next 10 to 20 years”.

He explained that while the first creative was responsible for launching the campaign and bringing the Australian personality to life, the second was more emotional and projected “a sophisticated image”.

Besides a signature short film advertisement, which features locations such as the Bungle Bungles in the Kimberley and Freycinet in Tasmania, an interactive, storybook-like tablet app has also been launched.

Similar to when the campaign was first introduced in 2010, customisable tools such as widgets will be offered to travel consultants, allowing them to list relevant packages alongside pre-loaded featured experiences ranging from indigenous tourism to food and wine. Aussie Specialists with Facebook pages can also pull content from Tourism Australia’s online repository.

Maggie White, Tourism Australia regional general manager, South Asia, South-east Asia and the Gulf, said that in a market with high repeats like Singapore, the NTO needed to continue to “give new news”, and that the current campaign was a good platform to do so.

Meanwhile, McEvoy let on that marketing spend on mainstream versus digital media was now 50:50, compared to 80:20 five years ago. He added that the ongoing campaign features a strong social media element, which attempts to harness the power of “Facebook jealousy” among travellers.

AUSTRALIA’S China 2020 Strategic Plan is already yielding results, and the country will build on this by introducing a number of new initiatives in the coming year.

From the second half of this year, Australian sellers can tap on a A$600,000 (US$608,170) Welcome Chinese Visitors grant, intended to offer training and support to businesses interested in becoming China-ready.

From July 1, enhancements will be made to Australia’s Approved Destination Status (ADS) scheme, including the implementation of a perpetual ADS scheme authorisation for approved inbound tour operators to reduce administrative burden.

In addition, Tourism Australia has begun translating all product information on its digital platform, the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse, into simplified Chinese. The NTO is also developing an online tool for tourism operators that will enable visitors to book online. In addition, creation of a China-hosted consumer website is also in the works.

Meanwhile, Tourism Australia managing director, Andrew McEvoy, revealed that the destination was tracking above its 2020 goal for China in terms of air access. In the first two years of the plan, number of international seats grew by 7.5 per cent a year – above the 5.5 per cent targeted – while number of domestic seats increased by four per cent a year, more than the two per cent needed.

Suppliers have also started to reap some gains on the back of their efforts.

Accor, which introduced an accredited Optimum Service Standards programme catering to Chinese visitors during last year’s Australian Tourism Exchange, recorded a 23 per cent year-on-year spike in bookings from China during the first five months of 2012.

Said Accor business development manager-leisure, Kate Marshall: “We’ve won quite a few pieces of big incentive business because of the accreditation standards, such as a couple on the Gold Coast.

“People have this perception that the Chinese market is cheap, but it’s changing very quickly. It’s incentive business, FIT, government delegations.”

Some 31 of Accor’s hotels in Australia are already Chinese-accredited, and the number will swell to 50 by year-end.

The high-end brands of Sofitel and Pullman were doing really well with the market, added Marshall.

Shirley Dodt, director, leisure sales, Rendezvous Hospitality Group, said while the company had yet to launch any comprehensive programme specific to China, it was “trying to be China ready” and “developing what (it) could be fully doing for that market”.

“China is definitely growing, especially for our hotels in Sydney and Melbourne. We’ll be focusing on business and government groups and incentives. We’ve just appointed a new director of MICE for the Group,” she added.

THE TRADITIONAL group market from South-east Asia into Australia is being assaulted on all fronts, thanks to a number of reasons such as the entry of low-cost carriers and the strong Australian dollar.

The launch of new routes by airlines such as AirAsia X and Scoot is changing the face of the market from “a fairly group market to a fairly big FIT market”, said Gary Peterson, company director of the AOT Group, which owns inbound tour operator ETA.

He said: “We’re seeing more Malaysian (travel consultants) working with us for FITs, (but) you have to do a lot more FITs to do the same numbers. We will potentially see that now with Singaporeans having access to very low airfares into Gold Coast and Sydney.”

GTA Australasia noted a similar trend of decline in its group market.

Said inbound operations manager, Roxy Chan: “Last year, we had 59 groups from Indonesia in August (the peak travel season). This year, it will be somewhere between 40 and 50 groups.”

GTA Indonesia general manager, group sales, Tim Dyer, explained that this could be attributed to factors such as the appreciation of the Australian dollar and the ease of obtaining a European visa compared to before.

“Everyone can go to Europe so they are going to Europe. We’ve seen a huge surge in groups to Europe,” he added.

Both GTA and ETA, however, report fairly strong FIT numbers.

Wego chief commercial officer, Craig Hewett, told TTG Asia e-Daily that according to findings in a recent poll his travel meta-search firm commissioned, traditional group travel to Australia was in decline among Singaporean, Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese and Filipino customers.

Some 47 per cent of the close to 700 respondents said ‘I like to make my own plans, booking my flights and hotels independently’ compared to 20 per cent who ‘prefer a packaged holiday, buying the hotel and flights as part of the package’ and 14 per cent who ‘like to travel as part of an organised group’.

He said: “This matches the behaviour that we’ve seen on Wego. Searches for packages are at an all-time low. In the last 24 months, it has dropped to four per cent of all our searches compared to flights and hotels. In the past, it was close to 10 per cent.”

– Read more in TTG Asia June 29 – July 5, 2012