Australian invite

Tourism Australia launched a full-fledged campaign titled 'There is Nothing Like Australia' to promote the island continent as a preferred destination among Indian tourists. The campaign, designed by DDB Group Sydney, included television commercials, print ads, out of home activations and digital support to reach out to the people and was launched in India in two phases, between August and October, 2012 and from January to March, 2013.

The television commercials showcased different locations of Australia such as Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Great Barrier Reef, Kangaroo Island, Great Ocean Road and Uluru. It showcased different terrains of the island continent and the opportunity they presented for a holiday experience.

The TVC was shown across 30 channels of different genres such as news, business, entertainment, lifestyle, travel and infotainment. During the activity period, the agency booked over 200 daily spots across channels.

The marketing campaign also included a mock-up of Kangaroo Island at a busy mall in Mumbai, mobile vans featuring life-size kangaroo cut-outs placed in high traffic locations, branding of bus shelters at premium locations in Delhi, select hoardings featuring turtle replicas with moving fins against the image of the Great Barrier Reef and digital screens and branding at travelators at Delhi airport. Several billboards were also put up at high traffic junctions across Delhi and Mumbai.

Tourism Australia also partnered at several events such as Oz Fest, the biggest Australian cultural festival ever staged in India held between October 2012 and February 2013. The fest reached more than 290,000 audience members in 18 cities through 159 events over four months. Other events included Gotye and Fearless Nadia's premier.

On the digital medium, banners and videos promoted the communication across news, business, travel, lifestyle and entertainment websites along with Google Search and YouTube. On social media, a strong presence was marked with close to 1,20,000 fans on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/SeeAustralia).

The target audience for this campaign was affluent, mid-life travellers residing in the top metro cities of India, who could be self-employed or entrepreneurs, highly qualified professionals or senior executives at multinational companies, including families with or without kids and honeymooners.

Tourism Australia has doubled its marketing spends in India from 2012, since when the strategic 2020 plan was launched.

In addition to the 'There's Nothing Like Australia' campaign, Tourism Australia has also launched the 'Best Jobs in the World' initiative in association with its state and territory partners. This initiative was a global campaign, predominately targeting the youth sector to consider Australia as a working holiday destination, but at the same time showcased the amazing range of experiences that can be found across Australia.

Tourism Australia has also partnered with key airlines such as Singapore Airlines, Silkair and Malaysia Airlines and distribution partners including Mercury Travels, Vacations Exotica, Ezeego1, Kulin Kumar Holidays for joint advertising campaigns on the print medium.

Kashikar says, "Tourism Australia has complemented the brand campaign with tactical campaigns with airline and trade partners providing great value deals to translate aspiration into actual bookings."

Australia has also come up with an India-centric 2020 Strategic Plan, where it projects Indian tourists to contribute between A$1.9 to A$2.3 billion. In 2011, India contributed A$867 million to the Australian economy, making it the 10th most valuable inbound tourism market. The plan has been developed to support Tourism Australia and let the Australian tourism industry maximise the potential of India.

In 2000, there were only 41,000 visitors to Australia. The number has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 12.3 per cent and reached 1,48,200 people in 2011 and 1,59,420 in 2012. The number is expected to rise to 1,75,000 by 2013.

For 2012, the average length of stay for all visitors from India was 65 nights, which is much higher than the global average of 36 nights. Also, in 2012, India was the 11th largest source market in terms of expenditure and accounted for 3 per cent of all international expenditure. Average expenditure for Indian visitors was billed at A$ 5,263 per visitor, per visit.

Most Indian travellers to Australia presently travel through Southeast Asian hubs such as Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. While there are currently no direct non stop services between India and Australia, Qantas, Virgin Australia and Jet Airways serve the route through code share arrangements as no direct flights are available. The plan also projects that an extra 345,000 seats will be required by 2020 to meet the expected demand from India.

Kashikar says, "For the year ending December 2012, spend and arrivals from leisure tourists increased by 22 per cent and 16 per cent respectively, thereby supporting the campaign's effectiveness."

According to the report, there are nearly 70 National Tourism Offices active in India.

Tourism Australia began operations in India in Mumbai in 2008, recognising the potential of the market. In 2010-11, Tourism Australia developed a local campaign, 'Namaste Australia', to encourage positive consumer advocacy of Australia. It is an agency that promotes Australia as a preferred tourist destination across the globe.