This year’s edition of Australia Marketplace North America trade show, which took place earlier this week at Westdrift Manhattan Beach, a Marriott-owned Autograph Collection hotel, located in the eponymous coastal community of Southern California. The event layout and programming quite closely mirrored last year’s, although the 2023 edition boasted a bit of an increase in terms of attendance. Roughly 250 delegates, with 107 seller companies and 107 travel buyers, made their way to Los Angeles from all across the U.S. and Canada to be present at the annual happening.
Following a rough few years, Australia’s tourism industry is bouncing back in a big way, but Tourism Australia continues to work tirelessly in its quest to raise awareness about the Oceanian country-continent’s vast and varied tourism product, driving calculable consideration and conversion among travel consumers. Results that have all been achieved, of course, with the help of its travel advisor partners, many of whom came from far and wide to learn in-depth about the destination and hear the latest updates from Down Under.
Executives reported measurable improvements in visitation, spending, destination brand awareness and travel intent, in part, due to the success of Tourism Australia’s undeniably adorable new mascot Ruby the Roo, the souvenir plush kangaroo, and her pint-sized companion, a toy unicorn named Louie, who—in a series of clever CGI-animated shorts—serves as a stand-in for the viewpoint of international visitors. The lovable little characters are voiced by high-profile Aussie actor Rose Byrne and American comedian Will Arnett, making these assets feel more instantly recognizable among U.S. audiences. The irresistible duo was introduced to the world last October as part of Tourism Australia’s post-pandemic 'Come and Say G’day' campaign, the latest installment of the DMO’s 'There’s Nothing Like Australia' global brand platform.
Some Key Revelations
Testamentary to the campaign’s success, searches for travel to Australia showed 110 percent recovery, surpassing 2019 benchmarks, while total international arrivals numbers were gauged to be sitting at 77 percent. That said, arrivals from the U.S. market individually recently reached 75 percent, while the Canadian market has bounced back to about 94 percent of pre-pandemic levels. Overall, visitor spend continues to outpace arrival numbers, with the U.S. emerging as a major driver of leisure segment’s recovery in terms of traveler spending.
Sunday’s welcome dinner opened the event with a presentation by Chris Allison, Tourism Australia’s Vice President, The Americas, on the Australian tourism industry’s status, complete with sector performance and consumer research figures, which revealed some of the trends and trajectories that are anticipated for the year ahead. The aviation industry’s own recovery was featured as a highly influential factor, as still-growing airlift and airplane seat capacities, along with airlines’ new and resuming international routes, are key to the feasibility of North Americans vacationing Down Under.
Allison also spoke to the question of how the DMO intends to carry on driving recovery during the coming year, including continuing to promote ‘Come and Say G’day’ assets, as brand recognition is still building as a result of the campaign. The organization will also continue its current content partnerships with the L.A. Times and Conde Nast; hosting plenty of media immersion trips; growing the brand’s exposure at large-scale events; and leveraging Australia’s celebrity advocates to drive more press coverage and digital exposure. Tourism Australia will also continue engaging with its distribution network, from strengthening its ‘One Voice’ partnership with the nation’s STOs to educating more travel advisors through its Aussie Specialist Program and offering FAM trips for trade professionals.
Chris Allison, Tourism Australia’s Vice President, The Americas, speaks at the 2023 Australia Marketplace North America event. (Photo Credit: Laurie Baratti)
The opening oratories concluded with a presentation by Julie Cuesta, Executive Vice President, Managing Director MMGY Myriad, who delivered some further insights from the data firm’s Summer 2023 ‘Portrait of American Travelers’ consumer sentiment study. While the survey’s slew of findings are too extensive to tackle here, there are some that warrant at least a minor mention.
Among the survey’s key findings were:
- Despite an uncertain economic future, American international travelers are taking more (and more costly) trips this year. Those surveyed said they expect to take an average of 3.8 international vacations in the next 12 months, up 2.2 from 2019’s average of 1.6. They also plan on spending more within the context of these trips, averaging $15,364, a figure that’s 16 percent higher than their pre-pandemic average annual spend.
- Influencing these figures is fair amount of consumer optimism in the economy, MMGY found, since inflation has lately dropped down to three percent in the U.S. and four-and-a-half percent in Canada, employment levels are expected to hold steady and the U.S. GDP has continued to grow moderately.
- Social media continues to play a key role in capturing travelers’ interest and influencing their decision-making processes. 54 percent of respondents follow a destination on social media, up from 37 percent in 2019, and 60 percent have selected a vacation destination, at least in part, from content (photos, videos, information) they saw on social media channels.
Tourism product suppliers and travel buyers confer at the 2023 Australia Marketplace North America event. (Photo Credit: Laurie Baratti)
- Besides social media, MMGY’s findings indicate that people’s top five sources of travel information are: travel review websites (35 percent), destination websites (34 percent), their friends and family (32 percent), online visitor guides (29 percent) and traditional travel advisors (29 percent).
- From the study also emerged a number of post-pandemic macro-trends in travel. The list reflects several ongoing consumer patterns, including that leisure travelers are looking to get “back to nature” and, in Australia, the natural environment continues to be a key attraction. Travelers are also increasingly focused on wellness experiences, from medical tourism to dedicated wellness retreats and natural hot springs. Also, food and beverage experiences linked to the destination remain in high demand, as tourists seek more authentic local experiences. The sustainability of their trips is becoming a higher priority among consumers, and luxury product demand is also increasing, although travelers’ definition of luxury is evolving. “Workations” are still on the rise, which translates to longer stays. Among U.S. travelers especially, latent demand for indigenous tourism experiences is high, although awareness of such opportunities remains low. Lastly, there’s the question of increased accessibility for consumers with various types of disabilities, since an estimated 20 percent of customers travel with accessibility considerations.
Performer playing a didgeridoo at the 2023 Australia Marketplace North America. (Photo Credit: Laurie Baratti)
On days two and three of the event, attendees engaged in a series of one-on-one meetings, organized into eight-minute appointments. Sellers stayed stationary, while buyers moved from one table to the next at their allotted appointed time, in a sort of speed-dating style setup. A handy Tourism Australia app helped participants stay on top of their appointment schedules, and also provided networking information on all attendees, along with a chat function. But, as ever, it was the in-person element that proved invaluable to everyone involved.
In an interview, Allison told TravelPulse that, compared with the 2022 Australia Marketplace North America conference, “We’ve managed to replicate an event of the same scale, basically. So, we’ve had the same type of interest from our industry in Australia, we’ve had the same type of interest from our buyers across North America. So, to have the event the same size as last year, I think, is a really good signal in terms of people’s desire to attend events like this. And, also, particularly for Australian industry, a signal of how important this market is to them.”
“One of the things that I’m pleased to see this year is we have a lot more new travel providers coming this year, so people that may not be selling Australia in their programs at the moment are looking to start and/or grow their programs,” he continued. “So, we’ve got a good handful of people that are using this event to kind of really come and understand Australia, understand the proposition and, as a result, implement new programs; which is exciting, because that provides more choice for our customers, but also more choice for our travel partners, as well, in terms of people selling through wholesale and retail.”
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