Tourism Australia to target Asia with new marketing fund

Friday, 18 May 2012 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Tourism Australia’s ongoing strategic efforts to tap into the growing tourism opportunities provided by markets in Asia will be boosted following the Federal Budget announcement for a new, dedicated Asia Marketing Fund worth A$61 million over four years.

Tourism Australia Chairman Geoff Dixon said the funding injection towards marketing ‘There’s nothing like Australia to Asian consumers’ reflected the growing importance of a region expected to deliver 2.5 million visitors to Australia during 2012.

“Tourism Australia continues to approach its international marketing activity with a balanced portfolio approach, where traditional markets such as the United Kingdom and USA remain important, but nobody can deny that the opportunities that lie before us are in this Asian Century,” Mr Dixon said. “With this new dedicated fund, we now have an unprecedented opportunity to further drive both existing campaign activity and new marketing efforts across our fastest growing and most valuable inbound visitor markets.”

The fund will deliver an additional A$61 million to the Tourism Australia budget over forward estimates (the next four years) and is ongoing. The first year of the fund, (2012-13), will deliver A$8.5m followed by A$14m, A$17.5m, and A$21m over the following three years out to the 2017 financial year.

Tourism Australia Managing Director Andrew McEvoy said the new funding, representing 10% of the increased amount of the Passenger Movement Charge (PMC), would allow it to significantly increase its media spending and more effectively reach consumers – key to Australian tourism delivering on its Tourism 2020 goals of doubling overnight spending to up to A$140 billion by the end of the decade.

“This commitment in a tight fiscal environment will be greatly welcomed by the Australian tourism industry - further supporting the visitor economy, which continues to contribute significantly to our country’s economic growth and supports more than 900,000 jobs across the country,” Mr McEvoy said.

McEvoy said Tourism Australia would utilise the additional funds to target high yielding consumer segments in growing, key Asian markets, including existing targets and those with long term potential.