The federal government has announced a new campaign to promote the ICC tournaments and Australia to cricket fans in India.
Federal Minister for Tourism Simon Birmingham said the $5 million campaign would be used for marketing activities to drive visitation to both the women’s and men’s tournaments, as well as increase Australia’s broader destination appeal in India.
“Australia stands ready to welcome the world to the ICC T20 World Cup tournaments, which are set to deliver significant benefits to our tourism industry and the broader economy,” Minister Birmingham said in a statement.
“The Indian tourism market is currently worth $1.7 billion and is our fastest growing inbound tourism market, with visitation forecast to grow four-fold to reach nearly 1.2 million by 2035.
“The recently released India Economic Strategy specifically identified the need for increased tourism marketing activity in India to ensure the market reaches its full potential.
Approximately 100,000 international visitors had travelled to Australia alone when the country had co-hosted ICC One Day world cup in 2015 with New Zealand.
Indians are the fastest-growing short term visitors to Australia. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), when trend estimates for short-term visitor arrivals for December 2017 and December 2018 were compared, the highest percentage increases were recorded for India (13.3%), followed by Japan (12.4%) and Singapore (8.1%).
“Sports events are a great opportunity to attract tourists,” says Ram Gusain of Ram World Travel in Sydney who is also the former Director, Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India.
“Cricket is a great reason for Indians to travel. Indian fans can go anywhere to watch their team playing,” Mr Gusain told SBS Hindi.
“The truth is more Indians are visiting Australia than the other way round. They love the scenic beauty of Australia. Racism is less in this country. It is clean and healthy. And there are more food options available than ever before now.”
In December 2018, 31,200 Indians visited Australia on a short term basis. The highest visitors were from China (121,100), which has taken over from New Zealand (115,900).
The United States of America stands at number three (67,900) followed by UK (60,800), Japan (41,400) and Singapore (38,600).
Many states and territories have also taken steps to attract more Indians tourists.
Tourism Australia has been advertising aggressively in Indian markets in recent months.
Popular Bollywood actor Parineeti Chopra was appointed as a brand ambassador for Tourism Australia in 2017.
