Australia, with a population of only 18 million and a GDP of $355 billion was able to generate $14 billion (\1,246 billion Yen) in foreign exchange earnings from tourism this year. This made tourism the largest export earner, accounting for 13% of all exports, and 70% of services export growth last year. In Japan, Australia is known for its raw material and energy exports, but tourism now generates twice as much in export dollars as either coal, gold or petroleum.
This success of the industry has been recognised internationally. Last October, I was very pleased when the ATC was cited as the world's best tourism promotion body at the White House Tourism and Travel Summit hosted by President Bill Clinton. The ATC's marketing efforts with the private sector has also been recognised as a successful model by other countries. The Canadian Government last year set up the Canadian Tourism Commission based on the ATC model. The reason countries like Australia, Canada and others need tourism promotion organisations is because of the fierce competition between destinations that has now developed.
Slide 2: South Africa Print Ad
More than $2 billion (\178 billion Yen) was spent last year in destination advertising world-wide. This is one example of how South Africa is marketing itself.
Tourism to Australia really began in a big way in the 1980's after the Government decided to fund an international program of generic advertising to be handled by the ATC.
Slide 3: Blank
Australia needed a national tourism promotion organisation because:
1- It was a long way away from its markets.
2- It was not well known internationally.
3- The tourism industry was immature.
4- Australia did not have a strong national identity or an institution to generate awareness as America was able to use Hollywood to make the world aware of it's attractions.
5- We also did not have globally recognised brands like Chanel or even the British Royal Family, which is a draw card for England.
As a result, knowledge of Australia worldwide was and still is relatively thin. As former Prime Minister Paul Keating said - We had to work harder than other countries. But in effect our isolation has given rise to the promotion of our greatest asset - the spectacular Australian natural environment. It has also given rise to our approach to tourism marketing, which has developed its own unique and successful recipe. It is one that Japan should perhaps look at.
The Australian Federal Government saw the value in tourism form the early days. In the early 1980's Australia realised that we needed to appeal directly to the consumer. To create a level of interest and desire that would overcome negative factors of distance, the time it takes to travel to Australia, and cost.
What people will pay for something is, in most cases, a reflection of the value they place on it. If they place a high value on something they will pay more. Therefore our aim is to encourage potential visitors to place a high value on an Australian holiday - and therefore be willing to pay a premium for it, similar to Japan. For us, this is an expensive but effective strategy because it is necessary to use high impact media such as network television and high quality publications.
With only a 30 second TV opportunity we realised that Australia must be uniquely positioned against our competitors, not only showing what is different. but what is spectacular - and this year we put the holiday maker in the picture, which creates the chemistry of involvement and participation. One contributor to success has been the spectacular visual quality of our natural environment, and the colour and light existing in Australia.
