India and Australia share many things including the same national day (26th January). As we had back from the holidays, discussions around the MyTravelResearch.com barbecue have focused on the many reasons why Australia should encourage more friends and family visits (VFR travel) from India In the travel industry, the Indian market keeps on giving due to its size: UNWTO forecasts 50 million outbound visits by 2020. And in our case, there’s the loyalty factor. Based on 2013 figures, 47% of arrivals to Australia are repeat visitors. In the … [Read more...]
Archives for January 2015
Tips On How To Promote and Attract Indian Tourist
I'm a travel industry professional. I have just returned from the exciting and exhausting government trade mission - Australia Business Week in India. While in Mumbai and Delhi a few days ago I wrote about the huge potential that India's travelling middle class represents to Australia (and the rest of the world). Now that I'm back in Sydney and have had time to reflect on what transpired and turn it into practical advice about the insights of an Indian tourist. So for all destination marketers and tourism businesses out there, here are the … [Read more...]
Are You Asking the Right Questions in Your Tourism Business Strategy?
It’s likely no one needs reminding that 2014 was the centenary of the outbreak of World War I. This anniversary led to a flood of books on the subject with two that seemed to be consistent winners in the reviewers’ eyes: The War that Ended Peace by Margaret Macmillan and The Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark. ‘The Sleepwalkers’ is next on my reading list, but I can certainly highly recommend ‘The War that Ended Peace’. One of the most fascinating elements of the book (plot spoiler) is the extent to which policymakers on all sides of Europe … [Read more...]
Your Tourism Marketing Resolutions
As a Tourism Marketer, it is time to resolve to adopt five marketing practices if you want to achieve digital breakthrough in 2015. While some of these things we have heard before, we still don't see a lot of 'action'. Mobile digital technology and apps have led to a crowd-sourced democratisation of the web where ordinary people become tourism industry suppliers. We've seen this in sites such as AirBnB, BeMyGuest, Uber, EatWith, and Bookalocal. In 2014 we saw a sharp rise of peer-to-peer dining and accommodation sites, also poshtels and … [Read more...]
India: A Tourism Partner That Australia Should Embrace
I'm writing this in transit from Delhi to Mumbai while participating in Australian Business Week in India. It is the largest overseas trade mission to India by any country: some 450 delegates at a senior level (c-suite or director level) across many industries. So far it has been an exhilarating but exhausting trip, including meetings with Air India and other tourism industry stakeholders. Leaders from many industry streams including cultural services (my sector on this trip), agriculture, technology, education, health, resources, sport, life … [Read more...]
Opportunities for the Indian Outbound VFR Travel Market
As we at MyTravelResearch.com prepare to leave for Australia Business Week in India, an Australian Government-led trade mission, we thought we would share with you our excitement about the massive potential the Indian outbound travel market has for Australian tourism. India is one of the fastest-growing markets for international travel, alongside China. Here are just a few of the (fairly mindboggling) predictions. According to Amadeus and Frost & Sullivan India’s middle class is forecast to grow from 5% of the population currently, to 50% … [Read more...]
Toilet Tourism: Make a Marketing Splash
At MyTravelResearch.com we often see a disconnection between what travellers want and what the travel industry delivers. Destinations obsess about their product or service in a way that customers don’t. They lose sight of the basics and what is important to customers. Perhaps the ultimate basic experience that unites all tourist experiences is the loo. Yes, toilets, bathrooms, lavatories, restrooms, bogs, dunnies and loos are a constant source of traveller apprehension and must be included in your toilet marketing. Clean, reliable, functioning … [Read more...]
The Human Face of the Visitor Economy
Of late years, the tourism industry has begun changed the way we talk about what we do. Increasingly, we are talking about the Visitor Economy rather than about tourism. This term hasn’t gone public yet – I still describe my work as tourism to people outside the industry. Out of context, the phrase can sound a little cold. It’s been helpful in getting policy makers to understand the value of tourism to both economies and to social capital. But these important impacts can lack a human face. That’s why we need both to use the phrasing and … [Read more...]