Tourism Events Queensland roadshow
Dusit Thani Hotel
Abu Dhabi
Wednesday 22 January 2014
(Acknowledgments)
It’s very encouraging to see an event showcasing Australian tourism being held in the UAE. Not just that, but an event
which is being run by a state tourism body, in this case Tourism Events Queensland, and in the presence of the
national body, Tourism Australia.
Because, frankly, there has been too little promotion of Australian tourism in the UAE, the Gulf and the Middle
East/North Africa region more broadly.
The Tourism Australia video campaign “There’s Nothing Like Australia” contains exceptional images of Australia – the
sparkling oceans and beaches; the rugged unspoiled outback and rainforest; the sophisticated and cosmopolitan
cities – which perfectly sum up why Australia is such a great place to visit. Some of the most beautiful places in
Australia are of course in Queensland - and I say this as a Federal Government representative who hails from Sydney
and is based out of Canberra when in Australia. But I should know – I actually got married at the site of one of the
Queensland delegates here today -Hayman Island. Beautiful as it was then, back in 2005, I am confident that
it will be even more so due to the entry of Kerzner International, which of course manages the Atlantis the
Palm in Dubai, and the consequent rebranding of Hayman as a “One and Only” resort.
As of November 2013, visitor arrivals in Australia were up 5.2 percent compared to the previous year, to just over 6.4
million arrivals. As part of this, the Middle East and North Africa region is also growing. 117,000 visitor arrivals in
financial year 2012-13, including 54,000 residents of the UAE – up almost nine percent on the previous year.
The online visa arrangements for GCC nationals – which you will no doubt be hearing more about later in today’s
session – undoubtedly facilitates increased travel. By 2020, Tourism Australia itself acknowledges that the Middle East
market could be worth over $1 billion in export income for Australia. But even now, the Middle East and North Africa
market is bigger than the markets of France, Ireland, Italy, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan or South Africa in terms
of visitor arrivals to Australia.
Apart from visa arrangements, the other key facilitator is of course the exponential growth in aviation links, driven by
the major Gulf carriers, two of whom are with us today. We have the partnership between Qantas and Emirates. We
have the equity alliance between Etihad and Virgin Australia. And we have Qatar Airways’ entry into oneworld.
From July this year, when Etihad commences daily nonstop services to Perth from Abu Dhabi, there will be 147
direct flights every week between Australia and the Gulf. By my calculations that means one flight every one hour and 8
minutes – 68 minutes – leaves either Abu Dhabi, Dubai or Doha bound for Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane or
Adelaide. That is phenomenal.
But I return to my earlier thesis. We have growth in visitor numbers from this region. We have massive expansion of
airline links. We have online visa tools for nationals from GCC countries. But too often we have sat back and relied
on word of mouth – Emiratis, for example, who go to the Gold Coast during the summer here and take their extended
families, then return the next year, tell their friends etc.
I don’t need to tell you that tourism is a competitive industry and Australia – despite the air links - ain’t exactly
next door. There are many other options. So word of mouth is no longer good enough, if it ever was. On the Tourism
Australia website, for example, there is no strategy for the Middle East and North Africa. That is why we need more
events like this today and we need to work more with you, the agents and the airlines, to attract people from here to
visit us.
Tourism generates more than $100 billion in expenditure every year, directly employs more than half a million
Australians and is our largest services export, worth some $26 billion in export income.
As we all know, here is a high end market. Although the Australian dollar has thankfully depreciated in the last few
months, we remain a high cost country and we always will be relative to many other countries. I guess we have the
strength of our economy to thank for that. So we need to be at the high value, high margin end to get a return which is
going to justify significant investment.
And that means being in the high quality end of tourism experiences. The likes of Hayman and the other operators
here today.
As I like to say, high cost equals high quality. It’s no surprise that there are four Australian cities – Melbourne,
Sydney, Perth and Adelaide – in the top ten cities of a worldwide global liveability survey of 140 cities by the
Economist Intelligence Unit. Not sure why Brisbane isn’t up there, but you can paint a picture of Australia as a whole as
a destination with a fantastic lifestyle. Thousands of Emiratis already know this from visiting the Gold Coast. We
can build on that.
At the end of the day, there is nothing like Australia. We know it, you know it, the challenge is for more people in this
region to know it.
So we are happy to work with you to this end.