Soaring dollar gives Aussie tourism industry the jitters

A report by Lisa Millar of the ABC says that as the Australian dollar continues its relentless climb, there is growing nervousness amongst tourism bosses.

The dollar’s value of around 92 US cents is great news for Australians heading overseas, but is making life a little more expensive for foreigners heading here, as well as exporters from Australia. 

And with the dollar showing no signs of falling any time soon, tourism providers are being told to start marketing uniquely Australian concepts more vigorously if they are to survive.

With tough competition in the region, the Tourism Export Council (TEC) is championing “health tourism” – plastic surgery, eye operations, even heart surgery, followed by a lovely holiday on the Great Barrier Reef.

Former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer, until recently the chairman of Tourism Australia, says the influence of exchange rates on the tourism industry is important. “Every time you get one lot of things fixed and moving forward in the tourism industry, the goal posts get moved out on you further,” he said.

“The campaign ‘So where the bloody hell are you?’ was all about marketing that irreverent Australian image, with great success, to the backpackers who now yield a great deal as they spend weeks around Australia.”

But Tourism Transport Forum (TTF) spokesman Christopher Brown says forget the backpackers, big spenders are the key.

“I think what it does show is the need to be chasing a high-yield market,” he said. “That’s the big-spending tourists who come here for whom it’s not an expensive holiday.”  “They are less concerned about dollar fluctuations, rather than [someone on a] mass-market, cheapest price, big package tour.”

ATEC spokesman Matthew Hingerty says there are still unique Australian concepts that could be marketed more aggressively, “The usual response to any crisis in tourism is to throw some more dollars at marketing, but the world is flooded,” he said.

“In our own region you have India, Macao, Singapore, Hong Kong, all throwing millions of US dollars at the tourist.”  “We need to compete in the areas where we are unique, but we also need to think laterally and look at some emerging new markets on the global scene, such as Indigenous tourism.”

“Indigenous tourism promises long-term sustainable future for Indigenous Australians at a time when they really need it,” he added. “But the issue is not so much a developing a product, there is plenty of dollars flowing into developing Aboriginal tourism products.   “We’ve got to get it to market to make it export ready and that requires some patience and some time and some investment.”

A more short-term but equally lucrative trade is health tourism, where the international market is booming and estimated to be worth $100 billion.  Countries like India are major players. “We in Australia are perfectly set up to service that market because we sometimes overlook the fact that we’re clean and we’re pure, you can breathe the air, you can drink the water,” Mr Hingerty said.

“People are looking at Australia and saying, “Well, maybe we should travel to Australia for a health service and a holiday thereafter”.

“But for whatever reason, none of our government agencies have been looking at this and we certainly would hope that they would do so.”

A Report by The Mole from the ABC