Asian tourism market worth $17.8 B for Australia by 2020

CANBERRA (Xinhua) - The Asian region could collectively be worth more than $17.8 billion to Australia's tourism industry by 2020, a media release by Tourism Minister Gary Gray quoted him as saying on Sunday.

Gray said Tourism Australia would receive $11.1 million this financial year to entice further growth from Asia.

That would include targeting China's growth cities, dedicated marketing in Japan and South Korea, marketing Australia across Pan Asia through large scale media platforms, a strong focus on aviation partnerships and further research into Asian markets by Tourism Research Australia.

"This is the second year of our Asia Marketing Fund which was announced in last year's budget and will provide $43.2 million over four years to promote Australia as a tourism destination to growing markets in Asia," Gray said.

"The work being done under the Asia Marketing Fund in 2013-14 will build off a successful first year of activity and is crucial to Australia remaining competitive in the Asian Century."

Activities in the first year of the Asia Marketing Fund included accelerating Tourism Australia's China 2020 Geographic Strategy; a marketing project to redefine the Australian product offering in Japan; attracting more flights from Asia; and additional tourism research.

"In 2012-13, Tourism Australia expanded Australia's footprint in China, opening an office in Chengdu in the country's West, and undertaking marketing and trade development activities across three new Chinese cities of Qingdao, Chengdu and Chongqing," Gray said.

In Japan, Tourism Australia partnered with multimedia company BS Asahi as well as a number of States and Territories, trade partners and JAL airways on an integrated campaign showcasing fresh reasons to travel to Australia through the eyes of Japanese celebrities and the Friends of Australia program.

"Over 1 million Japanese consumers watched each episode of the TV series to find out why There's Nothing like Australia. Further, as a result of the campaign, the number of fans of Australia's Japanese Facebook page grew by 30 percent to become the largest page for a National Tourism Organization in the country. These are excellent results in a market which remains important for Australian inbound tourism," the minister said.

Tourism Australia also increased airline cooperative marketing activity in 2012-13, partnering with China Eastern and Sichuan Airlines to promote new services and Tourism Research Australia undertook research into Chinese consumers.

"The government introduced the Asia Marketing Fund last year to help Australia capitalize on the strong growth out of Asia and spend dedicated marketing dollars to revitalize key Asian markets, and the success of last year provides strong foundations to build on in 2013-14," Gray said.