Australia Tourism ready to welcome more Indians

Tourism Australia has pitched in to work closely with the Indian tourism sector and airline companies to encourage more bookings to Australia from India for the coming summer

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Australia opened its borders for Indian visitors and airline companies like Qantas and Air India have already started operations connecting destinations in both countries. Tourism Australia has pitched in to work closely with the Indian tourism sector and airline companies to encourage more bookings to Australia from India for the coming summer.

According to an official statement by Tourism Australia in India, they will be collaborating with travel partners including MakeMyTrip, Pick Your Trail, Thomas Cook, SOTC, Kesari Tours, Kulin Kumar Holidays, Travel Tours, Veena World, and airline partners including Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Air India and Qantas among others to encourage early bookings to Australia and influence Indian travellers to take an Australian holiday for the summer travel period.

India was Australia’s fastest-growing inbound tourism market for three years. In 2019, Australia welcomed almost 400,000 visitors from India and was the sixth most valuable market for spending, contributing over AUD 1.8 billion

Tourism Australia’s recent Consumer Demand Project research said that 1.8 mn (or 82 per cent) out of 2.2 mn High-Value Travellers from India could be visiting Australia over the next two years. To encourage and facilitate more travel from India, the Australian government had announced a Visa Application Charge (VAC) waiver for those tourists whose visa to Australia has either expired or will expire between March 20, 2020, and June 30, 2022.

“At Tourism Australia we are so excited to be welcoming back international visitors who make up a critical part of our visitor economy. We know Australia remains an incredibly desirable destination, especially for visitors from India and we can’t wait to once again share all of the unforgettable tourism experiences we have to offer here in Australia,” says Phillipa Harrison, Managing Director, Tourism Australia.

India was Australia’s fastest-growing inbound tourism market for three years. In 2019, Australia welcomed almost 400,000 visitors from India and was the sixth most valuable market for spending, contributing over AUD 1.8 billion.

ET quoted Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager-India, Tourism Australia, saying, “Our research has consistently shown that there is a huge pent-up demand for travel to Australia amongst Indian travellers. Through our campaign activities, engaging Public Relations (PR) and Advocacy initiatives, collaborations with Key Distribution Partners (KDPs) and airline partners, we are optimistic of converting this demand and seeing India return to growth in arrivals to Australia”.

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