Tourism Australia pushes “unified” marketing approach but tourism bodies wary

Tourism bodies have hit back at an idea floated by Tourism Australia for the federal body to take greater control of marketing Australia, arguing suits in Canberra and Sydney are not best placed to advertise places in far-flung Northern Territory, Queensland and Tasmania.

According to the Australian Financial Review, Tourism Australia chairman Geoff Dixon will today argue that taxpayers will get greater bang for their buck by having more centralised marketing.

“To speak with one voice about Australia, especially in Asia, and to collectively sell Australia through stronger singular joint Federal and State Government-backed campaigns would, without a doubt, be a more effective and efficient way of doing our business,” Dixon will say in a speech to the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Tourism Australia this morning told SmartCompany that there was a “strong argument that by combining resources you get more bang for your buck”.

State offices have a legitimate role, a spokesman added, and Dixon is not calling for closures of state offices but rather a “unified vision” for promoting Australian tourism.

But Luke Martin, from the Tourism Industry Council Tasmania, says greater centralisation doesn’t bode well for states such as his which are reliant on domestic tourists.

Martin says although domestic tourism is within Tourism Australia’s remit, the industry feels the Federal Government arm is largely concerned with increasing international visitor numbers.

“I wouldn’t support the minute budget to promote Tasmania to be handed over to suits in Canberra and Sydney,” Martin says.

He points out that Sydneysiders or Canberrans are not best-placed to sell the benefits of a trip to places as diverse as far-north Queensland, Northern Territory and Tasmania.

“If Tourism Australia wants to encourage Australians to holiday at home with their much greater budget, then we’d be very supportive of that,” Martin adds.

But he says that unless a co-ordinated market encourages domestic tourism, he’d be wary of any reduction in state and territory marketing budgets.

Daniel Gschwind, of the Queensland Tourism Industry Council, says he supports the idea of a unified and different approach but Tourism Australia alone cannot develop the key sector.

“We’re [Australia] losing market share globally,” Gschwind says.

“I definitely agree that we need to do things a little bit differently than we have done over the past 10 years.”

He adds that Tourism Australia has boosted its focus on domestic tourisms, but states and regions play a critical role for promoting tourism and are destinations in their own right.