Victoria set to lead Indian tourism market

Company Brief

Mumbai, February 27, 2012

Premier Ted Baillieu today launched an innovative tourism campaign encouraging prospective Indian visitors to nominate their favourite Melbourne and Victoria itineraries through creative digital and social media channels.

Mr Baillieu pitched the new campaign directly to a gathering of Indian tourism industry partners in Mumbai today as part of the Victoria Government’s Super Trade Mission featuring more than 200 companies and organisations, including 14 of Victoria’s leading tourism operators and organisations.

Mr Baillieu said through this campaign, Victoria aimed to be the first Australian state to maximise visitor growth not just from key cities such as Mumbai and Delhi but also from Bangalore and Chennai.

“The campaign gives both Indian tourists and our industry partners the ability to personalise itineraries, making for an even more rewarding visitor experience in Victoria,” Mr Baillieu said.

“Victoria offers a great variety of tourism experiences in close proximity to Melbourne, including spectacular natural attractions such as the Great Ocean Road or the penguins at Phillip Island Nature Park.

“Victoria is a great destination and our strong product offering is striking a chord with the Indian market, with Melbourne seen as a sophisticated city, renowned for its superb restaurants, cafe culture, theatre and diverse art and cultural experiences and as Australia’s major events capital,” Mr Baillieu said.

The winning itineraries will be promoted extensively through Victoria’s tourism industry partners and supported by marketing activities by Tourism Victoria.

Mr Baillieu said the new campaign was another step forward in the Victorian Government’s India Tourism strategy to make India Victoria’s second-most valuable tourism market that would deliver more jobs, more investment and more growth for Victoria.

Mr Baillieu said India was rapidly emerging as one of Victoria’s key inbound tourism markets with 62,500 Indian visitors in the year to September 2011, up 21 per cent on the previous 12 months.

“During this period Indian visitors spent an estimated $305 million in Victoria and 46 per cent of all Indian visitors to Australia visited the state,” Mr Baillieu said

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LinOpinion

Anika Gupta

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Email: anika.gupta@loweandpartners.com