First stop, Sydney, for Asia’s newest budget airline

 

Scoot is Asia’s newest long-haul budget airline and has chosen Singapore to Sydney as its first international route, starting daily from mid-2012 and helping to add AU$146 million a year to New South Wales’s economy.

 

Barry O’Farrell, Premier of New South Wales said of the announcement: “This is a great win for Sydney and travellers in the Asia-Pacific region, opening up Australia’s largest city to more international routes and lower-cost carriers.” He went onto say: “This places Sydney front and centre of the boom in budget travel in emerging markets like Singapore, China and India.”

 

New South Wales’s minister for Tourism, George Souris expanded by stating: “Scoot’s arrival gives tourists from the growing markets of China and India more choice on how to get here and enjoy the many attractions and major events we have on offer in Sydney and New South Wales.” New South Wales have a 2020 target of doubling overnight visitor expenditure.

 

This exciting announcement, and the two-year marketing plan Destination NSW, Tourism Australia, Sydney Airport and Scoot plan to run following the launch of the route will hopefully help New South Wales achieve this goal.

 

To read the full article, go to http://www.spicenews.com.au/2011/12/01/article/New-Asian-long-haul-budget-airline-chooses-Sydney/WJOCVSDSVX.html

Australia’s New Strategy to Sell Diamonds to Chinese Tourists



Dr Kim Hames, Australia’s Tourism Minister since December 2010, is shifting the focus of Australia’s inbound tourism promotion from the traditional markets of Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia to the new market of China.

“I’m going to concentrate a lot more on China, trying to bring Chinese visitors here,” he says, adding that he is examining what sort of holiday packages and airline arrangements are needed to bring in greater numbers of Chinese visitors.

“I’ve been talking to the Chinese and they want to go and buy diamonds at Argyle, see where the iron ore comes from, so we’re going to look at how we can better promote that industrial tourism as well.”

Dr Hames will visit China in April and May to lobby officials for airlines to come to Western Australia, hoping to capitalise on the new agreement between the governments of both countries to expand by 8000 a week the number of seats on flights between the two countries.

“I’ll be talking to airlines about giving discounted fares from Western Australia if they come to WA first. We’re going to meet those airlines in the near future – specifically going to China just to meet three airlines.”

His pitch? Convenience, for one.

“We’re in the same time zone so people without having to go across time zones can duck down here where there are lots of things to see, as well as a community that’s welcoming and open with fantastic beaches. Or use it as the gateway to the rest of Australia,” Dr Hames says.

Source: http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/9037130/tourism-minister-reels-them-in/