The Hindu : New Delhi News : More Indians heading for Australia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

More Indians heading for Australia

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 15. Indian visitors are increasingly opting for Australia as a leisure and lifestyle holiday destination and their number is likely to touch the one-lakh mark by 2007. Tourism Australia will soon refresh "Brand Australia'' essence as "Life in a Different Light'' with the focus being on `out of the ordinary' experiences.

Apart from close cricketing ties between the two countries and being a hot favourite with the Bollywood directors, newer opportunities for Indian students are fast emerging in Australia. India now ranks among the top 10 countries from where visitors flock to the land of `Kangaroos' every year. Last year as many as 55,600 visitors from India arrived in Australia and Tourism Australia hopes to double it by 2007 and take the number to nearly 2 lakhs by 2013, Maggie White, Regional Manager, South and Southeast Asia, Tourism Australia, said today.

"Our studies have shown that Indians invest in value-for-money products and that is what destination Australia is. It is an `out of the ordinary' destination and offers a wide range of holiday experiences to savour from. Australia has something for every kind of traveller, be it families or honeymooners, in terms of sightseeing, shopping, nightlife, entertainment, adventure, diverse cuisine and much more,'' Ms. White, currently on a visit to India, told The Hindu here.

In her opinion, Indian travel market offered great potential for Australia and the number of outbound visitors from India was growing at a very healthy rate of about 15 per cent annually. She said that visitors from India were expected to total 64,200 this year while the forecasts from India indicate an increase by 15 per cent per annum over the next decade.

Ms. White said that over the past six months corporate and business travellers to Australia from India had shown an encouraging trend. Replying to a query, she said that nearly 30,000 Australians visited India during 2004.

Tourism Australia is also ready with a new marketing campaign, targeting Indians seeking new and unique holiday experiences in Australia. The campaign include a cooperative print advertising campaign with Qantas Airlines, a consumer promotion in conjunction with a leading coffee chain, and a project with NDTV, leading news channel.

Qantas operates three non-stop direct services from Mumbai to Sydney and the flying time is about 11.5 hours. Regular flights from key cities in India to major ports in Australia via Singapore Airlines and other carriers are also available.

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