Tourism Australia has signed a marketing agreement with Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific.
The two parties will jointly invest $2 million in 2015 promoting Australia in key overseas markets China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and the UK. Moreover, Cathay will promote Australia at 40,000 feet with images of the nation’s best food, landmarks and experiences to be included on its in-flight entertainment system.
Tourism Australia said it was the first multi-market deal the peak tourism body had signed with Cathay, which flies to Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney from its Hong Kong hub.
“Cathay Pacific is one of the world’s most respected airlines and an aviation partner we’re very keen to work with, especially given the strength of their footprint within North Asia,” Tourism Australia managing director John O’Sullivan said in a statement on Monday.
“The deal provides a strong platform to further grow inbound tourism from some of Australia’s most important inbound visitor markets.”
Cathay is also flying about 200 travel agents from China to Australia for a three-day Tourism Australia event on Queensland’s Hamilton Island that also involves travel media and Australian tourism operators.
The most recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show China is Australia’s second-largest source of inbound visitors.
For the 10 months to October 2014 (which is the most updated figure), there were 699,400 visitors from China, an increase of 16 per cent from the prior corresponding period. Only New Zealand provided Australia more overseas visitors with a little over one million Kiwis heading across the Tasman over the same period.
And a report from Tourism Research Australia said Chinese tourists spent $4.8 billion in Australia in 2013, with the figure forecast to grow to between $9.4 billion and $10 billion by 2020.
