Gold Coast lures lucrative Indian market for mega tourism event
Posted by editor (editor) on Aug 07 2009
2009 >>

A hundred influential Indian travel agents will experience the Gold Coast next week to help increase the visitation from the important emerging market of India, Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor said today.

Mr Lawlor said the India Mega Famil and Workshop, run by Tourism Australia in partnership with Tourism Queensland and Gold Coast Tourism, was great news for the Gold Coast with India one of Queensland’s fastest growing international markets.

“For five days from Monday, 100 Aussie Specialist travel agents from India will participate in workshops with the Australian tourism industry and familiarisations excursions at the Gold Coast,” Mr Lawlor said.

“These Aussie Specialist agents will get the chance to take part in ‘real life’ Queensland experience to enrich their knowledge of Queensland and their ability to sell the experience back in India.

“The Gold Coast offers an incredible variety of experiences which appeal to Indian travellers, such as theme parks, shopping, beautiful natural surroundings and beaches and the group will see plenty of great examples of the full range of Gold Coast holiday options.”

Tourism Queensland CEO Anthony Hayes said as well as getting a taste of what the Gold Coast has to offer, many of the agents would also visit other parts of Queensland during their stay.

“More than 80 percent of the Indian agents will explore other parts of Queensland while they’re in Australia, including Tropical North Queensland, the Whitsundays and Brisbane,” he said.

“These additional visits will give them an even better understanding of our state and the diversity of some of Queensland’s most popular destinations.

“India is one of our most important emerging markets with more than 31,000 Indians visiting Queensland in the 12 months to March 2009, spending about $98 million.

“Despite difficult economic times, Indian visitation to Queensland increased 11 percent in the year ending March 2009.

“According to the Tourism Forecasting Committee, short-term visitation from India to Australia is forecast to grow at the highest rate of all major inbound markets in 2010.

“Tourism Queensland has a representative in Mumbai and every year we run an annual Queensland on Tour trade mission to help Queensland tourism operators connect with key Indian travel trade.”

Mr Hayes said this was the first time Queensland has hosted the India Mega Familiarisation, previously known as the India Travel Mission, which has largely been held in India since 1999.

“The response from both the Australian and Indian travel industry was very encouraging last year with record numbers attending,” he said.

“Events such as this provide an important platform for Queensland tourism operators to introduce new tourism products to the market and enable Indian representatives to develop destination knowledge of a range of Queensland experiences.”

Mr Lawlor said events like this would not be possible without the partnership of Tourism Australia, Tourism Queensland, Gold Coast Tourism and the collaborative efforts of the local tourism industry in the regions involved.

Last changed: Oct 06 2009 at 4:03 PM