With the Indian school holidays coming around between April and June, Tourism Australia has rolled out initiatives to rebuild Indian arrivals lost over the last two years of travel freeze.

Tourism Australia will soon launch joint promotions with its eight key distribution partners – MakeMyTrip, Pick Your Trail, Thomas Cook, SOTC, Kesari Tours, Kulin Kumar Holidays, Travel Tours and Veena World – alongside Asian flag carriers to encourage an Australian summer holiday among Indians.

“One of our strategic priorities now is to facilitate the recovery of the entire distribution ecosystem because (without that) we won’t be able to drive the same amount of volume which we enjoyed pre-Covid,” said Nishant Kashikar, country manager, India & Gulf, Tourism Australia in an interview with TTG Asia.

The tourism board is planning to host some 20 travel agents from India at the upcoming Tourism Australian Exchange 2022 from May 14 to 18 at the International Convention Centre in Sydney.

“This will allow Indian travel agents to interact with their Australian counterparts besides witnessing the readiness of the destination to welcome tourists,” said Kashikar, adding that pre/post-show fam trips will be arranged for the attendees.

Australia is also looking to revive the Indian business events market, and will do so through the Business Event Australia (BEA) Showcase in Mumbai on March 10 and 11. The tourism board has invited 15 top event agents from across India to interact with Australian stakeholders.

The ICC T20 Cricket World Cup from October 22 – November 13, 2022 is expected to build up hype around Australia among Indian travellers, who are known to adore the sport.

“We want to promote travel for the games and beyond the games. We would be able to bring back demand and increase the attractiveness of the destination through the sporting event,” remarked Kashikar, adding that the cricket games would attract much corporate interest too, as companies could host their dealers and employees at the event.

Kashikar said Tourism Australia is eyeing high-value travellers from India, as they are more “immersive” and have “an affinity towards some of Australia’s key strengths, like food and wine, nature and wildlife, coastal experiences, and sustainable tourism”.

India was Australia’s fastest-growing tourism source market for three years before the pandemic. In 2019, Australia welcomed almost 400,000 visitors from India, and it was the sixth most valuable market for tourism spend, contributing over A$1.8 billion (US$1.3 billion).