A toast to storytelling with Tourism Australia & Air NZ

Members of the travel trade were given the opportunity to kick back and enjoy a glass of wine at last night’s Tourism Australia market update.

The organization teamed up with Air New Zealand, which is in the midst of its “Pleased to Seat You” tour of North America, to share the latest on the land down under, and according to Robery Keddy, head of commercial partnerships, the Americas for Tourism Australia, to raise a glass to growth.

“When I was up here a year ago,” Keddy said, “we were coming out of a very flat time in terms of arrivals to Australia. I’m pleased to say that in this past year, we’ve maintained some extraordinarily good numbers.”

Australia’s total market spend has been at 12 per cent over the past year, with its target customer spend growing by 16 per cent. With Canada being its 10th largest market in terms of inbound spending, Keddy reported that Australia’s arrival numbers had almost reached the double digits, with an increase of 9.4 per cent.

“These numbers are very key for us,” Keddy explained, “because we have a specific customer for this market. So, I would say cheers to everybody for assisting in making this happen.”

The aforementioned customer, according to Keddy, is affluent 45+ experience-seekers, who are hungry for cultural, indigenous, coastal and nature experiences. They’re the main target for Tourism Australia’s campaign, which aims to engage potential travellers with strategic storytelling, media partnerships, and trade relations.

Tourism Australia’s collaboration with their travel partners is especially key; the organization unveiled its brand new Aussie Specialist Program yesterday morning, which is a free resource tool to assist travel experts in the selling of the destination.

“It’s been under review over the last year and a half,” Keddy told PAX, outlining the various features, which includes a design built for mobile use, new itinerary suggestions and factsheets, and the introduction of the Aussie Specialist Club, which gives qualified agents access to the organization’s Travel Club and Aussie store.

Also new for Australia is the increase in connectivity with Canada, including Air Canada’s recent addition of twice weekly flights from Vancouver to Brisbane, and the expansion of Air New Zealand’s routes, which the airline is showcasing this week as part of a road trip across North America.

“The roadshow is about promoting the new products and services that we’re going to be having on our refurbished 777-200 aircraft,” Chris Allison, manager – sales and market development, Canada, told PAX. “And of course, to promote our Economy Skycouch, which will be offered for the first time on our Vancouver route.”

Air New Zealand is in year two of its three-year partnership with the Tourism Australia campaign, and arrived at the event by way of an impressively-outfitted vehicle, which provided guests with the ability to test out the airline’s Skycouch and Premium Economy seats, which are to be included in the 777-200 retrofit program.

“For the first time in our long-haul network,” Allison said, “we’ve got consistency of product offerings across all routes in North America. Skycouch is available on all of our routes, and with the retrofit, we’ve got consistency in our aircraft types as well.”

Allison reported that Air New Zealand’s ultimate goal is to increase its frequency to year-round daily operations, particularly to its Vancouver gateway, which has an additional 10 per cent more capacity.

Air New Zealand will complete the Canadian part of its tour on Sept. 25 before spending three weeks in the U.S..

For more information on the Aussie Specialist Program, visit www.aussiespecialist.com.

PHOTO: Helen Burford, cabin crew, Air New Zealand; Chris Allison, manager – sales and market development, Canada; Robert Keddy, head of commercial partnerships, The Americas, Tourism Australia & Elia Amosa, cabin crew, Air New Zealand.