Don’t talk down Japanese market, says tourism chief
SYDNEY – Australia’s tourism industry should remain committed to the Japanese market despite its continuing under-performance a peak tourism body has stressed.
The Australian Tourism Export Council was commenting on this week’s release by Tourism Research Australia of the latest International Visitor Survey that showed that Japanese tourist numbers fell 7.7 percent to 582,000 in the year ended March 2007.
Japanese visitors’ expenditure in Australia also fell nine percent to just over A$1 billion, but on a slightly brighter note, nights were up 3.8 percent to 10.9 million as visitors stayed an average additional two nights.
ATEC managing director Matthew Hingerty said the continuing slump in Japanese visitor numbers meant it was more important than ever not to give up on Australia’s third largest market.
“Although the Japanese market continues to decline, it is still brings more than half a million visitors who pour over a billion dollars into the Australian economy annually,” Hingerty said.
“It is important that we remain focused on developing new strategies that will promote a resurgence in the market, particularly for Japan’s top three destinations Sydney, the Gold Coast and Tropical North Queensland – which recorded declines in numbers of 6.7%, 7.2% and 14.6% respectively.”
Hingerty said the various reasons behind the Japanese market’s decline had been developing over a number of years.
“The appreciation of the Australian dollar against the yen; fuel price increases; changes in aviation services; a weakened Japanese economy; an overall decline in Japanese outbound travel and massive competition from other destinations such as China and Korea are just some of the key factors affecting the market,” he said.
“ATEC is concerned that the general gloom in talking down the market is one of the worst threats we face and risks creating a self-fulfilling prophecy which could see investors and tourism operators drop their support for the market.
“Rather than throwing up our hands in defeat, we need a sensible mix of patience, research, policy changes, tweaking of the brand in-market, relationship management and good will.
“Forums such as ATEC’s Japan Advisory Panel and the (Australian) federal government’s Japan Tourism Action Plan are constantly discussing these issues and providing industry feedback to government and the aviation sector.
“While focusing efforts on growing markets such as China and India are important, we still have more than double the number of Japanese coming to Australia each year and it’s essential we don’t lose sight of that fact.”
Ian Jarrett
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