Tourism Australia looks at drawing greater numbers with new initiative 'Restaurant Australia'

It is a $10-mn global campaign that aims to project the country as the culinary capital of the world

Australia is all set to market the country's food and wine industry and bank upon the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 to incentivise more tourists to visit Down Under. The former initiative, called 'Restaurant Australia', is a $10-million global campaign that aims to project the country as the culinary capital of the world.

"Plans involve expressing a customised culinary experience within city locales. We hope to show the world through this campaign the quality cuisine and fresh local produce that Australia has to offer," says Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager (India & Gulf), Tourism Australia.

Australia witnessed the highest ever growth in Indian tourist arrivals (+39%) during the month of May 2014 - with 21,000 visitors. The total number of Indian tourists rose to 1,85,000 for the year ended June 2014, reflecting a 15% growth from the previous year. With Australia & New Zealand co-hosting the quadrennial cricketing event which will take place from 14th February - 29th March 2015, Australia expects to host another 5000-6000 Indians during that period.

After safety and value-for-money, the food and cuisine experience a country offers determines the travel destination, a Consumer Demand Research Project that Tourism Australia commissioned has revealed. Australia's association with 'good food and wine' was second only to France when it came to people who have visited Australia. However for people who have not visited the country, only 26% thought of Australia as a destination that offers quality gourmet.

"It's that difference in perception which we are aiming to bridge with this campaign. A major chunk of Indians who travel to Australia are there for holiday and 'Restaurant Australia' will showcase the best of Australia's people, place and produce. ", - states Kashikar.

India is ranked number 10 in the inbound-traveler market for Australia. New Zealand ranks number 1 with approximately 1 million travelers. India is pegged at number 11 when it comes to spending, with spending by Indians in Australia touching close to $716 million this year. When compared globally though, China leads the inbound spending market by a mile with about $ 5 billion.

"Almost 44% of the inbound travel we see from India is from the VFR (visiting family and relatives) section and close to 22% are Indians on holidays. Leisure travel of this kind saw a growth of 26% from the previous year," adds Kashikar.

The rest is made up of business travelers, students on vocational courses for duration less than 12 months and MICE (meetings, incentives, conference and events) travelers. Tourism Australia plans to host about 3,00,000 visitors from India by 2020.