America is on the hunt for more Australian tourists as dollar dampens travel lust

AUSTRALIANS fork out $9 billion each year when they travel to America. But with a slumping dollar, there is a plan to lure us back.

AUSTRALIANS are the target of a new US tourism campaign designed to safeguard the $9 billion Aussies spend in the States each year.

The campaign promoting the wide range of “possibilities” within 5-hours of major gateways, aims to reinvigorate Aussie travel to the US at a time when numbers have started to drop off.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data released yesterday showed 303,800 Aussies travelled to the US since December, compared with 311,700 in the same period a year ago.

Is the US losing its magnetism for Aussie travellers? Picture: istock

National marketing agency Brand USA blamed the exchange rate for the downturn, rather than the travel policies of the Trump administration.

“The strong (US) dollar is a more compelling challenge for us in that it probably has the most effect on travel to the US,” said Brand USA President and CEO Christopher Thompson.

“There’s a lot of noise and a lot of publicity about what might have changed (in terms of travel policies) but there’s a minimum of what has actually changed.”

He said the new campaign targeting Australia and New Zealand would focus on the “three ps of possibilities, persona and proximity”.

“In markets like Australia where we’ve got currency issues, we’re focusing on the message of proximity,” Mr Thompson said.

Brand USA President and CEO Chris Thompson. Picture: Supplied

Since 2014, the Aussie dollar has dived from over 90 US cents to 73, making the cost of an American holiday considerably more expensive.

Mr Thompson said historically travellers did not cancel a trip because of exchange rate fluctuations “they just changed their travel patterns”.

“The world is a very competitive place and we have to keep the US top of mind,” he said.

“We want to convince (travellers) the US is a great big country and it’s a very, very diverse country.”

Australia was a “critical market” for the US, as the tenth biggest source of visitors and the eight biggest collective spend market — worth $9 billion.

Australian Federation of Travel Agents CEO Jayson Westbury said the exchange rate and the Trump factor were having an effect, as more Aussies looked to Canada rather than the US.

“There’s definitely been a shift, and marketing by Air Canada has played a big part in that, as well as the strength of the Australian dollar against the Canadian dollar,” said Mr Westbury.

Also wooing Aussies, is the Mexican holiday spot of Los Cabos, whose tourism chief travelled Down Under this week to spruik the municipality.

Los Cabos is another place reaching out to Aussie travellers. Picture: Supplied

Visit Los Cabos managing director Rodrigo Esponda said Australians represented their third largest overseas visitor market, with more than 7000 arrivals last year.

“Australians love our fishing, the surfing but we have plenty of room for more,” said Mr Esponda.

“We would like to see numbers grow to 50,000 or 100,000.”