Australia: Come, fall in love

Sydney is the most popular destination in Australia for Indians,
including MICE visitors

Australia is making an all out effort to woo greater numbers of Indian MICE travelers

Consider these options. Play with Glenn McGrath at Sydney Cricket Ground. Riding a Harley in Sydney. Have breakfast with dolphins. Or feed them in the open ocean. Climb the Sydney Harbour bridge. Pat a tiger. Or a snake – take your pick. Spending time with Fairy penguins, the world smallest, at Philip Island. Learn basics of playing the didgeridoo deep inside the rainforests of Queensland’s Lamington National Park. Sail the regatta. Play on the blue Australian Open courts. Bowl at MCG. Zoom through F1 tracks. Take up the Masterchef challenge. Dine at Palazzo Versace, the only designer hotel for the brand globally. Do quad biking in Tangalooma, the world’s largest natural sand island. Stay in the Great Barrier Reef. Or take a helicopter ride over it. A road trip around Tasmania. Go hot air ballooning over the vast desert. Sample Melbourne’s legendary bars and cafes. Live in a Victorian vineyard. Explore shipwrecks. Go Jet boating in the backwaters of Gold Coast. Surf in the Pacific. See Uluru, the island mountain, up close. Be part of vintage car parade. Hug a koala. Race a kangaroo.

Okay, well, the last experience is going to be really short, given that kangaroos out jump and out run humans by a considerable margin. But if you were to get a chance, which of these experiences would you want to leave out? Chances are your answer is – none. According to a recent research, a majority of 1,200 Indian travellers surveyed ranked safety, world class natural beauty, value for money, romantic experiences and a destination that offers a wide range of activities for all age groups, as the biggest triggers for choosing a holiday destination. Indians ranked the Australian beaches, its wildlife, island experiences, rainforests and the Great Barrier Reef as the top attractions that appealed to travellers.

Playing at Melbourne's MCG is a dream that can unbelievably be
translated into reality as the venue lends itself to MICE events

Australia is familiar to most Indians through cricket, and its stars have legions of ardent fans in India. More recently, increasing number of Indian students have been studying in Australia, and this has introduced new facets of the country Down Under for Indians. But of late, it is the sheer attractiveness of Australia as holiday destination that has Indians in thrall. A first world nation, for most Indian visitors, the sheer variety of the Australian life comes as a surprise. No wonder it has fast become one of the most sought after destinations for MICE tourists, especially incentive travelers. A young nation full of great natural splendour complimented by a high standard of life for its residents, Australia makes the average Indian visitor yearn to explore ever more areas of this vast country.

Not that there aren’t challenges. The absence of direct flights means a changeover at some south east Asian airport – actually a plus, but adds to journey time. The Australian dollar is strong at the moment, riding on a robust economy, and that does not help the Indian tourist with the declining rupee. It’s an expensive place, so what if Melbourne is regularly voted the best city to live in globally, and Sydney, Canberra, Gold Coast, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide do not do too badly on urban living standards either. However to keep it as an option, Tourism Australia has been actively promoting its destinations in India, in keeping with its India 2020 Strategic Plan. Indian tourism currently ranks 10th on Australia’s list of inbound visitor source markets with 159,200 arrivals in 2012, up by 7.4 % over 2011, generating spending that the UN’s World Tourism Organisation calculated at $A867million. Tourism Australia’s Managing Director Andrew McEvoy has said, “Long term visitor numbers from India to Australia are estimated to reach up to 300,000 and potentially generate as much as $A2.3 billion annually by 2020.”

Quad biking in Queensland's Tangalooma Island

Australia is also very well placed to cater to Indian MICE groups. Vishal Suri, Deputy COO Tour Operating, Kuoni India says Australia offers a host of activities for the MICE groups to enjoy the vibrancy of the country. As the recent hosting of 4,000 participants for an Amway India event at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre showed, hosting such large multi day events was a challenge Australian venues were ready for. Victoria’s Minister for Tourism and Major Events Louise Asher expressed happiness over the successful hosting of the event, which generated over $A20 million for the state. Besides what the participants spent in shopping in Melbourne’s CBD, where many shopkeepers were visibly happy to cater to the suddenly peaked demand for stuffed koalas and boomerangs! Chief Executive Officer of the Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau (MCVB) Karen Bolinger said the Indian market was a major target for business events for the organisation. “Winning the bid to host the Amway India Leadership Seminar in Melbourne was a major coup for MCVB and Victoria,” Bolinger said.

Gold Coast Tourism CEO Martin Winter is equally upbeat about his city’s capability to cater in incentive groups. Gold Coast, Australia’s top domestic holiday getaway, is also a holidayers dream. Set amongst backwaters, most villas, often holiday homes for the global rich and famous, have a car in front and a yacht at the back! “Incentive groups get great deals,” he says. “We are 35% cheaper than Sydney for the same standard of service.”

Gold Coast has seen a 24% jump in MICE tourism from India in the last year, pegged on groups largely from the banking and finance sectors visiting. “Incentive travelers are good for business,” he says, pointing out that a group spends about $A3,600 per person in 5 days, while a leisure tourist would be just half that amount! Given the high adrenaline offerings at Gold Coast, including a rich night life, and gearing up to host the next Commonwealth Games in 2014, Gold Coast looks to be high on the radar of Indian tourists, incentive or otherwise.

(This article was published in Business India in April 2013)