Federal government says Qantas needs a few more siblings

Mark Eggleton

Qantas might loosely still call Australia home and think it's the government's favourite child but Tourism Australia and the Federal Government are keen to adopt a few siblings for the national carrier as tourism numbers continue to rise out of Asia.

The nation's Federal Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson recently said it's no longer all about Qantas. He said it's vitally important we build strong Asian aviation partnerships and Tourism Australia will partner with "whoever we can that allows us to grow the tourism industry."

Ferguson said that with the United States taking the tourism industry seriously for the first time in its history, with a concerted marketing effort being pushed from the White House, it's important to boost Australia's own marketing efforts now and build aviation partnerships around the world with a specific focus on Asia.

The minister was speaking as he announced the federal government's intention to provide extra funds for Tourism Australia's marketing efforts in Asia. Part of the new Asia Marketing Fund, Tourism Australia will receive an extra $48.5 million over four years to further ramp up its marketing activities in Asia - Australia's fastest growing tourism region.

This pivot towards Asia comes on the back of strong growth out of the region in recent years with 40 per cent of all international visitors last year coming from Asia. Moreover, the number of Chinese visitors grew by 20 per cent last year and Japan is again on the rise with visitor numbers swelling by 16 per cent in June this year.

The funds ($8.5 million) in the first year will be used across four strategic projects including a focus on China's secondary cities such as Qingdao, Chengdu and Chongqing which have a combined population of over 30 million.

Tourism Australia managing director Andrew McEvoy said the fund provides an unprecedented opportunity to further drive existing and new marketing initiatives in Australia's fastest growing and most valuable inbound visitor markets.

He also reiterated the Minister's comments regarding the importance of aviation partnerships and said they're currently growing in leaps and bounds with China alone seeing an increase of 100 per cent in recent years.

"People mistakenly think we're tied to Qantas but we're not. Tourism Australia is a tourism marketer and 99 per cent of our overseas visitors fly here so we work with people who want to fly here - that's why we now have 14 airline deals globally," Mr McEvoy said.

According to McEvoy, China has a voracious appetite for Australia. "They love our pristine world class environment; our great food and wine; our clean clear climate; breadth of accommodation and friendly and open people."

And China's love for Australia is reflected in the response to Tourism Australia's new global advertising campaign with the advertisement being downloaded 20 million times in China alone. According to independent market research firm Celsius, the campaign registers as one of the top five per cent ever released into Asian markets, putting Australia in the company of some of the world's most recognisable brands.