When I left Melbourne, Australia a week or so ago, the state was getting ready to elect a new government – and so they have.
After several years of Labour, the folks of Victoria have gone Liberal. Louise Asher, who was the tourism minister in the previous Liberal (Jeff Kennett government) is back in the saddle.
But even before that, you could sense the wind of change blowing through the State, particularly in its tourism industry, and a fresh wind coming in from the East is keeping tourism numbers healthy.
At Victoria’s International Exchange, Melanie de Souza (below), general manager, international marketing, Tourism Victoria, shared some numbers which put into perspective which way Victoria needs to go in tourism marketing if it is to further grow its tourism industry. 
While international visitors only account for 9% of visitor numbers, they represent 35% of expenditure. Interstate visitors form 30% of visitors and 33% of expenditure while intrastate, the bulk of visitors at 61%, represent 32% of spending.
The growth has been strongest in international visitors – with Victoria outstripping other states in numbers, visitor nights and expenditure between 1999 and 2010.
Year to date June 2010 figures showed that Victoria registered 1.5 million visitor arrivals (4.5% against an Australia average of 3.1%), 41 million nights (14% vs 5%) and $3.9 billion in yield (7.5% vs 1%).
And the markets that are performing well and helping to spread out visitor mix are those in Asia. China has been removed from the North Asia bucket and now accounts for 11% of visitors – just behind Europe’s 16% and UK’s 13%. The rest of North Asia stands at 7%. South Asia’s share is 16%. Japan, which has underperformed, now stands for a mere 2% of arrivals.
Visa issuance numbers tell an even more interesting story and seem to co-relate to air accessibility. Year to date September 2010 figures show a 45% rise in visa issuance in Malaysia and 22% growth in Singapore. India also saw a 25% increase in visa issuance.
It goes to prove that no matter how hard you market a destination, if people can’t get there, it ain’t worth the bother. Between June 2008 and June 2010, Victoria saw a 22% rise in international passenger growth versus Sydney’s 8% and Brisbane’s 4%.
The active lobbying by state authorities for direct air links, particularly low cost carriers, is showing results. Jetstar begins its Melbourne-Singapore services from this month. China Southern Airlines increased to daily its services from Guangzhou; Qantas will increase A380 services to a daily Melbourne-Singapore-London and six per week A380 services from Melbourne-Los Angeles in March 2011.
From China, the top three performing airlines (up to June 2010) by passenger numbers are Cathay Pacific, Air China and China Southern Airlines. From Malaysia, they are AirAsiaX, Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines, and from Singapore, they are Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Qantas. India’s an interesting one – the top airline is Singapore Airlines, followed by Thai International and Malaysia Airlines.
Looking ahead to 2020 when Victoria is projecting 2.32 million visitors, the state is expecting the share from traditional markets such as Europe, UK, North America and New Zealand to drop while Asia (combining North Asia, Japan and South Asia) will account for a total 44% compared with the current 36%.
All these numbers are interesting because they provide a good backdrop to understanding why Tourism Victoria needs to engage differently with the new customers who are visiting their state.
In light of these changes, Tourism Victoria is developing a digital and social media strategy that will ensure Victorian content is developed and distributed in targeted channels and which will be supported by upgraded websites.
De Souza said roughly A$1.5-1.6 million was being spent on relaunching its English language website “to upgrade an ageing technology platform” and she is hoping for significant improvements to the capability of its Chinese website which is not due for relaunch until early 2012.
Year to date November 2010 figures show that of the total 6.8 million visitors to Tourism Victoria’s consumer websites, 1.8 million or 26% was from overseas.
Overseas visitation to the websites, grew by 13.5% at a time when total visitation increased by only 8% and top international visitation to websites was from China (+62%), United States (-14%), United Kingdom (+10%), New Zealand (-2%), Singapore (+9%), Japan (+8%), Malaysia (+50%).
It also plans to increase joint marketing campaigns with online travel agents.
Specifically to China, it wants to identify a potential high yield segment with whom brand affinity can be developed – the state has committed A$8 million to spend over three years on attracting tourists from China and is developing a China tourism plan to address both demand and supply issues.
Talking to several tourism suppliers in Victoria, it is clear all are keen to tap the new markets in Asia. There is some degree of trepidation though, which is only natural.
The new traveller from Asia is a different animal, plans and searches differently and seeks different experiences from the traditional traveller from Europe or the US.
As I shared in my presentation at the event, tourism suppliers in Victoria need to throw out the old clichés of the customer from the East and rethink how to sell to and engage with the different customer segments that are emerging from all over the region.
Asia’s never been one market anyway, and neither is China nor Singapore. The age of the web allows suppliers to slice deep and thin like never before and given that Victoria’s tourism suppliers are mainly made up of small businesses, it’s perfect for tailoring and customization to the new kind of Asian traveller who are travel-hungry, gadget-mad and value-seeking.
The question is how to make them comfortable enough so they will venture further beyond the city and disperse tourism expenditure throughout the state which is the ultimate objective of any successful tourism strategy.
Featured image credit (Yarra Valley, Victoria): Ockra/iStock
