Australia’s tourism industry faces significant increases in marketing costs as it struggles to regain its once-strong export-earner status. Although international tourist flows have not yet returned to 2019 levels, Australian tourism businesses are spending up to twice their pre-pandemic budgets on marketing efforts to lure international travelers back.
Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) Managing Director said: “We always knew restarting tourism would be difficult. Border closures have effectively shut down many tourism businesses serving international markets. “And now, more than two years later, we are still working hard to revive the tourist market.” Peter Shelley (pictured) said. ATEC is the largest industry body representing Australia’s tourism export sector.
“For Australian tourism businesses in particular, the cost of marketing their products in Europe and the US has increased significantly and this is really showing in our ability to secure space in the international travel market,” Shelley said. added.
A recent study by ATEC found that more than three-quarters of export tourism operators have seen their marketing budgets increase by more than 20%, with a quarter of them now having marketing budgets that are double what they spent in 2019. It turned out to be confronting.
Companies cite pressures such as increased spending from competitive destinations, exchange rates, trade show participation fees, advertising costs, and overall travel costs as key drivers of marketing budgets.
“While we are seeing pressure on individual businesses, the cost of marketing Australia to a global audience is also increasing for marketing agencies, as we continue to maintain a ‘first priority’ mindset for international travelers. “We need to significantly increase our advertising spend,” Sherry said.
“As we move towards this year’s federal budget, we are seeing government agencies like Tourism Australia looking to do more with essentially the same budget they have been working with for the past 10 years. I can see it.
“While many of our competitors have doubled their tourism marketing spend, Australia has slashed its state tourism budget, effectively reducing the pool of marketing funds available to promote Australia to high-spending international travelers. .”
Mr Shelley added he hoped the federal government would recognize the return on investment that export tourism generates by increasing Tourism Australia funding in next week’s budget.
“Failure to invest in tourism is to fail to invest in Australia’s success story. Tourism GDP grew by 3.5% in 2019, outpacing the country’s GDP, and it is now We must not forget that this is the economic benefit that many people are missing out on.
“We call on the Federal Government to support tourism and support the economy by helping tourism operators across Australia return to the market and get back to their jobs,” Mr Sherry said. Stated.
