Regional Tourism Forum shines a light on Australia’s incredible appeal for visitors
Posted on March 19th, 2024
More than 100 representatives from Australia’s Regional Tourism Organisations met last week at Tourism Australia’s (TA) Annual RTO forum held in Sydney.
TA provided updates on its Research/Strategy, Distribution, Sustainability, Partnering with Culture and presented trends in global Social Media. Here are some key take-outs:
- Great weather, family friendly, value for money, wildlife, natural wonders, beaches, good food and wine, vibrant lifestyle continue to appeal to our international visitors, with Tourism Australia focusing on its fifteen (15) Priority Markets, but an eye on many more. Our destination has incredible appeal for international visitors and we will continue to focus on growing our target markets.
- In the past year, the Aussie Specialist Program (ASP) has trained 40,000 agents in 71 countries in addition to the 15 priority markets, with 77,000 courses completed since July 2023.
- This year’s Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) will welcome the 15 Priority Markets plus another 22 countries; a rise in visitors to Australia from Vietnam and Korea is of great interest.
- People are visiting Australia because of its landscapes, cultures and wildlife, so Sustainability is key, with authentic storytelling to promote the lesser known destinations a strong focus going forward.
- Agritourism is on the rise due to its Sustainability appeal.
- There are 5 Billion social media users and 8.3 new users per second! The average usage is 2 hours, 23 minutes per person per day!
- Meta owns 3 of 5 of the largest social and messaging Apps, with Facebook #1, followed by Youtube and Instagram. GenZ and Young Millenials prefer Instagram with the 35 plus preferring WhatsApp. Searches on TikTok followed by Youtube.
- Four (4) Practical Social Media trends – Authenticity Reigns (raw content), rip Trends (Trend Moments versus Trend Forces), Social Search (Ticktok versus Google with a more narrative style (the Copy), be Picky about the Platforms you wish to use in your business (you don’t need to jump on all – just use what works)
- TA’s new content formula will focus on effective storytelling, made fit for the platform, align our culture, be distributed in priority placements
