Indians find Australia less attractive

Tourism Australia has indicated that the tourist growth from India to Australia in 2005 is expected to be around 14 per cent. The is far below the 22 per cent growth that was generated in 2004 over the previous year.

The number of visitor arrivals from India to Australia in 2004 stood at 55,600. Of this 16,668 were on holiday, 10,572 were visiting friends and relatives, 12,300 were categorised as business/ meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) , while the rest came mainly from employment and education.

"The largest majority (of travellers) came from western India, Delhi and then southern India. Chennai offers good potential going forward," said Maggie White, regional manager, South and South East Asia. Tourism Australia's target markets are Mumbai and Delhi (primary) and Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune (secondary).

Visitors from India spend a total of (Australian) $106.7 million (roughly Rs 341.44 crore) for the year ending September, 2004, which is an average of (Australian) $2,290 per individual. Their average duration of stay is anywhere between 8 and10 days.

Australia has witnessed a surge in the number of students enrolling for graduate and post-graduate courses in the past three, primarily due to the aggressive marketing that Australian universities have undertaken in India and the 9/11 fallout. The other sections of tourists that Tourism Australia is keen to focus on are the incentive travellers and honeymooning couples.

Tourism Australia is to increase the number of Aussie specialists agents by 25 per cent this year. The preferred Australia specialists who number 357 in all at present have to undergo training department of immigration and internal affairs (DIMIA) before they are certified as Aussie specialists.

Since this programme was launched in December, 2003, White indicated that it has become easier and faster for bonafide travellers to procure visas. This is due to the fact that the agents take responsibility for the credentials of the tourists who purchase tickets through them and the turnaround time for these Aussie specialists in procuring visas is 24 hours rather than the three days that it takes normally.

To promote tourism in the country, Tourism Australia will spend $ (Australian) 500,000 (Rs 1.6 crore) on marketing related activities in 2005, this is a 10 per cent increase over the spend last year.