Adelaide Airport prepares for ‘speed dating’ conference in a bid to get more direct flights to Asia’s booming tourism markets
Adelaide Airport isn’t satisfied with trying to get direct flights to the United States — now it is setting its sights on some of Asia’s growing tourism markets.
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Japanese tourists would be able to fly directly to South Australia for the first time, under a plan being pushed by the Adelaide Airport.
Japan has joined the US on South Australia’s direct flight wish list.
Adelaide Airport managing director Mark Young told the Sunday Mail the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and India were also on the radar.
The details come as Mr Young prepares for a conference regarded as “speed-dating for airlines, airports and governments” in Adelaide later this year.
The Sunday Mail this month revealed the State Government had made getting a direct flight to the US its No. 1 priority for the conference.
Mr Young said the airport, which will be a key player in any negotiations, will target the Asian destinations in addition to the US.
The World Routes conference will be held in late September. It is the first time the forum has been held in Australasia.
“World Routes is an incredibly exciting opportunity to showcase what we have to offer and to demonstrate we have the capacity and the demand to attract new carriers travelling to new destinations,” Mr Young said.
“The airlines already travelling to Adelaide offer more than 300 one-stop connections around the globe but we’re keen to continue to grow the number of direct services to build on what we already offer to the Middle East and Asia Pacific.
“Adelaide remains under served to a number of destinations, including the US.
“We also believe there are opportunities to attract direct links with new Asian destinations such as Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and India ... and to continue to grow our Chinese market.”
Mr Young said it could be difficult to convince busy airline executives to justify familiarity visits to SA to help with the “sell’. “So this is a unique opportunity for us to pitch the merits of new services in the immediate backdrop of what Adelaide has to offer,” he said.
TICSA chief executive Shaun de Bruyn said Chinese travellers were an incredibly important market for SA.
“Any opportunities to attract new Asian visitors — markets that have a rapidly growing middle class — should be a priority and will only increase our visitor expenditure and help us reach the $8 billion 2020 State Tourism Plan target,” he said.
Last year, 8000 Japanese visited SA — a nine per cent decrease from the year before. A total of 174,000 visitors visited from Asia in 2018.