R ARIVANANTHAM
CHENNAI, APRIL 13
Australia or “Land Down Under” on Wednesday announced that it had reopened its borders for international tourists on February 21, 2022.
Borders have been reopened for quarantine-free travel for those who are fully vaccinated, said Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager-Tourism Australia, India and Gulf here on Tuesday.
He told navjeevanexpress.com that inbound tourists from India is growing double digit consecutively for the 6th year in a row; Over 4 lakh Indians visited Australia during 2019; Tamil Nadu stands at No 4 for spend and arrivals accounting to over 29,000 and contributed 140 million A $ after Maharashtra, Delhi and Bengaluru.
- Tamil Nadu stands at No 4 for spend and arrivals accounting to over 29,000 and contributed 140 million A $
- Tourism Australia intends to increase inbound tourists from India to Australia to 1 million by 2030.
He said, pre-Covid, India was Australia’s fastest growing inbound tourism market for three years. In 2019, Australia welcomed almost 4,00,000 visitors from India and was the sixth most valuable market for spend, contributing over A$ 1.8 billion. Tourism Australia intends to increase inbound tourists from India to Australia to 1 million by 2030.
Recent research on consumer demand conducted by the Tourism Australia revealed that 1.8 Mn (or 82%) out of 2.2 Mn High Value Travellers from India intend to visit Australia over the next two years.
To cash in on the demand, the Qantas and Air India have increased their direct aviation access to Sydney from Bengaluru. Qantas, state-owned airways of Australia announced its first direct route between Bengaluru and Sydney commencing September 14, 2022. This is in addition to a codeshare agreement with IndiGo, which will expand Qantas’ reach across India.
Visa Application Charge (VAC) waiver
With a view to encourage holiday tourists from India, the Department of Home Affairs launched the Visa Application Charge (VAC) waiver initiative, for those tourists whose visa to Australia has either expired or will expire between 20th March 2020 and 30th June 2022.
Visa applications can be lodged online as per a time and location best suited for the applicant and can easily be facilitated through electronic payment with the ability to check the status of the application online. An online application can also be completed by a third party such as a travel agent, with the applicant’s permission. Visa applicants’ need not visit its immigration offices in person, as the entire process will be done by online, Nishant Kashikar said.
Tourism Australia also conducts various campaigns (https://www.tourism.australia.com/content/dam/digital/corporate/documents/8D-tune-into-aus-fact-sheet-january-2022.pdf) to attract tourists from India such as – Australia Is Yours To Explore; Signature Experience and Virtual Trade Fair organized by the Australian Tourism Export Council. Tourists can experience 72 new products including sky diving from a helicopter, Signature experience etc.
Besides these, it also offers attractive incentives for corporate companies for group business visit of over 700 as one group.
The basic tourist package starts from Rs. 2.5 lakh per tourist for one week Australia tour, Nishant Kashikar added.
The Tourism Australia will also be collaborating with travel partners, including MakeMyTrip, Thomas Cook, SOTC, Kesari Tours, Kulin Kumar Holidays, Travel Tours, Veena World and airline partners, including Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Air India and Qantas amongst others to encourage early bookings to Australia and influence Indian travellers to take an Australian holiday for the summer travel period.
Besides this, it also collaborates with local Premier Aussie Specialists, including Avocet, Baywatch, Footprint Holidays, Peekay, Pegasus and the start up PickYourTrail etc.
Sports Tourism
Tourism Australia is expected that over 20,000 cricket fans will fly to Australia to witness ICC T20 Cricket World Cup to be held from October 22 – November 13 this year, which presents a fantastic opportunity for Indian cricket loving tourists and business travellers to visit and enjoy an experience of the game and beyond, Nishant added.
