Washington, DC
Following meetings in Los Angeles over the weekend, Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson AM MP, has tonight hosted a roundtable discussion with American tourism industry leaders in Washington DC to further strengthen tourism ties between the two countries.
Minister Ferguson outlined the reciprocal importance of the Australian and American travel markets and the mutual benefits to be gained by driving two-way growth.
“The commonalities between Australia and the United States, and our desire to work together, will help drive business tourism,” Minister Ferguson said.
“The US is the second most popular destination for Australians travelling abroad and with 488,700 visitors in 2009-10 the United States is the third largest inbound market for Australia by volume, and the fourth largest for value.
“We want to grow these figures by promoting further travel between our two countries.
“People in the United States have expressed to me their concern over the terrible floods in Australia, and I have reassured them that despite the damage caused we remain open for business and ready to welcome more international visitors.
“The airing last week of the Oprah’s Ultimate Australian Adventure makes it the ideal time for tourism operators to capitalise on the publicity the show has generated.
“Oprah has driven unprecedented awareness of Australia in the United States and building awareness is the first critical step to encouraging visitation.
“The new routing by Qantas direct to Dallas also provides a great opportunity for increased travel from the West Coast.
“The data shows us that business travel is performing well, with arrivals from the United States to Australia up by 18 per cent on last year. However, we have lost some ground with a recent decline in leisure arrivals.
“Our efforts must now be directed at turning that around, through targeted global marketing, building new partnerships in the United States and improving our product in Australia.
“Marketing efforts by Australia will be important in the face of the high Australian dollar, rising oil prices and its impacts on airfares.
“Tourism Australia’s new campaign focuses on value which is very much what the US market is looking for.
“The tourism industry is a major employer and makes a substantial contribution to the economy.
“In 2009-10, total inbound economic value from American visitors was $1.8 billion and current projections point to an increase in arrivals from the United States at an annual average rate of 3.1 per cent through to 2020.
“The Australian Government is looking to grow US arrivals beyond these forecasts, and that’s what today’s roundtable was all about.”
Work undertaken on the Tourism Industry Potential suggests that the US market could be worth as much as $3.2 billion by 2020.
Tourism Australia will leverage the Oprah broadcast in the US through a campaign in partnership with Qantas as well as with wholesale, retail and online distribution partners. Tourism operators in the United States are anticipating additional business from the airing of Oprah's shows with 300 new travel agents signing up for training in selling Australia in the weeks before the shows aired.