Australia ‘can’t compete’ with Bali and Thailand
Too focused on driving up numbers when our costs are higher says Tony Charters
Australian tourism operators cannot hope to compete on price with South-East Asia and should focus on high-value niche markets, Tony Charters, the convenor of the Global Eco conference told Australian media
Tony Charters said Australian industry leaders have been too focused on simply driving visitor numbers up.
"There is the goal of doubling overnight visitor expenditure, which you could do by simply doubling the number of visitors, but there are several ways of skinning the cat," he said.
"Ecotourism provides an opportunity to look at longer lengths-of-stay and higher average spends, which drives up revenue."
Mr Charters said Australia could not compete on price with booming tourism destinations such as Bali and Thailand.
"We pay our hospitality and construction workers and anyone else involved in tourism per day more than our competition pays their workers per month," he said.
"We can never overcome that, so what we need to do is go back to the fundamentals of what makes an Australian holiday unique and worthwhile and appeal to a market that’s looking for that."
Tasmania and New Zealand were good examples of destinations which had marketed their eco-friendly credentials in recent years, Mr Charters said.
"It has worked for Tasmania, and they have been pushing this consistently for 10 years," he said.
"But it does take a consistent and dedicated approach … it’s sticking with a concept and building on it, not flipping from one idea to the next."
Meanwhile, Emirates and Tourism Australia have agreed to spend $14.3 million over the next three years to promote Australia overseas.
The pair announced the joint marketing agreement in Canberra last Wednesday, with the focus to be on boosting visitors from countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and New Zealand.
The money will be spent on advertising and event and sponsorship activities, Tourism Australia said in a statement.
Tourism Australia managing director Andrew McEvoy said "Both parties have agreed there is now a need for a more strategic, longer-term agreement to more effectively market Australia to Emirates’ extensive global customer base, in particular throughout Europe where the airline is so well established," Mr McEvoy said in a statement.
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