Americans favorite country: little-visited Australia
If money were no object, the place Americans would most like to visit is Australia. But recent numbers of Americans traveling overseas have increased, even as the value of the dollar eroded.
That’s particularly true in Europe.
”Americans who visit Europe tend to be more educated, with higher incomes, so they are less affected by the exchange rate,” said Joachim Scholz, a researcher at the German National Tourist Board. ”Even backpackers have more money than they used to, if you look at the price of hostels.”
Americans spent $3.8 billion on travel-related services in Europe in the first quarter of this year, a 5.5% increase from the quarter a year ago, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Across the Atlantic, travel experts say the weaker dollar has encouraged a European travel boom to the United States.
In the last 12 months, the dollar has continued to decline against the euro, but the impact has been limited.
”A lot of Americans purchase their packages in the US, and pay in dollars, so they don’t even notice,” said Thierry Baudier, the chief executive of Maison de la France, the French tourism board.
As for Australia, this year marked the 11th in a row it was chosen as most popular, according to a Harris Poll. But oddly enough, only about 460,000 Americans made is to Australia last year, according to government estimates. That’s a plateau that Australia has been stuck with since the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The two biggest obstacles to an Australian vacation are obvious: price and distance, according to Qantas, which has doubled its flights to the US in the past five years.
The airline is now attempting to increase those numbers through better pricing and informing Americans that their 14-hour flights are far more comfortable than the typical American airline.
Qantas is offering an Aussie Air Pass, which depends on season and travel zones, but starts at just $1,099 from Los Angeles.
The 14-hour flight from LA to Sydney is made more comfortable by various Qantas amenities.
Tourism Australia is also spending more money to entice American visitors, in part by showing agents the attractiveness of the country.
Tourism Australia recently concluded travel agent training seminars for the AAA Consortium in Los Angeles, and more are planned.
“Tourism Australia focused on general destination information, including addressing barriers to travel, our experiences’ strategy and the Aussie Specialist training program,” said the agency.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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