Qld tourism: Sleeping giant India set to awaken
While the soaring number of Chinese visitors to Queensland dominates headlines, another massive market is waiting under the radar.
INDIA is the sleeping giant of Australia’s tourism future, but Queensland needs to act quickly to grab the attention of an explosion in the number of potential visitors from the subcontinent.
China overtook New Zealand as the top source of international tourists last year, with 502,000 visiting the Sunshine State.
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And it is expected to continue to be the largest driver, with number heading to Queensland forecast to jump 208 per cent to 1.37 million — about the same as currently visit the whole of Australia — by 2027.
But while China has dominated attention, the other Asian behemoth has gone under the radar somewhat and is expected to be the second fastest growth market over that period.
Some 336,000 Indians flew into Australia last year, up 18 per cent on 2017.
But less than a quarter came to Queensland and only 11 per cent of the $1.2 billion in expenditure was here.
That’s largely because the most common reason for coming to Australia is to visit family and friends, and Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia all outstrip Queensland in that area.
Promisingly, however, half of all Indians who came for holidays visited the Sunshine State — and that’s where the huge potential lies.
Official forecasts suggest the number of Indian tourists to Queensland will more than double from last year’s 78,000 to 163,000, lifting it three spots to our sixth largest market.
“The emerging market is India,” Tourism Australia managing director John O’Sullivan said. “In 2030, we think India can be the fifth biggest after China, the United States, UK and New Zealand.
“The latent demand from India is very high. They are really interested in our destinations.”
A Tourism Research Australia report says the remarkable pace of economic development in India has created an ‘’urban masses’’ population of 130 million people — a tenth of the total — in the middle to high income category.
It is already fuelling an appetite for overseas travel, with outbound tourist numbers quadrupling in the first 15 years of this century and expected to hit 35 to 50 million by next year.
For places like Queensland, that means the sky’s the limit — literally.
Australia has direct air links to only one Indian city, Delhi, from Sydney and Melbourne.
The subcontinent is home to 12 cities with populations of three million-plus. By 2030, it will be 21. But not one has direct flights to and from Queensland — something our tourism leaders and the State Government are keen to change.
“We’ve got money on the table to have more discussions about connections with India and we are looking at all options,” Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones said.
“India is the sleeping giant.”
Delhi and Mumbai are on Brisbane Airport’s wishlist of routes, while Mr O’Sullivan says Bangalore and Chennai are of interest too.
“We are talking to a number of other airlines about direct services,” he said.
India has a range of low-cost carriers as well as the national carrier and many Indians favour international brands such as Singapore Airlines which connects into many cities there.
Tourism and Events Queensland CEO Leanne Coddington said while they were working with Study Queensland to aggressively target international students where other states have a major advantage in the Indian market, holiday visitors were a key focus.
“The segment we would be looking at are very high-end market,” Ms Coddington said.
“They have money but they want a bargain.
“You’ve got to deliver amazing service quality for India.”
Consumer demand research in India by TEQ and Tourism Australia shows what potential visitors seek most is world-class natural beauty, nature and wildlife; and destinations which are safe and secure and family-friendly.
“They also do a lot of wedding and honeymoon travel as well,” Ms Coddington said.
Other TRA research identified a ‘’one-upmanship” we can tap into.
“Experiencing something unique and/or being the first in one’s group to have had a certain noteworthy experience is highly sought after among Indian travellers, feeding into a ‘bragability factor’ that is a strong part of Indian culture,” it said.
English is widely spoken, and Mr O’Sullivan said a shared love of sport between Australians and Indians – particularly cricket – was an advantage, and they were keen on adventure, whether nature-based or theme parks.
It was important that operators adapted to meet dietary requirements, including an emphasis on vegetarian food.
“Indians are very sophisticated and have high expectations around service. It’s not unusual to turn up for dinner later than booked and with more people. They want flexibility because that’s how it works in India.”
They liked to go out at night and eat and shop late. . Some of their criticism is that our cities are not as vibrant as they would like at night,” Mr O’Sullivan said.
Queensland’s biggest international markets over the next decade are expected to remain China, New Zealand, the US and UK.
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Canada have been earmarked as growth areas along with India, while emerging markets include Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and the Middle East.
Maggie Chen, head of Chinese tourism for The Star Entertainment group, said it was important that Queensland tourism operators remember that the Asian market, and even the Chinese market, was not one homogenous group.
“There are different countries with different historical and cultural backgrounds,” she said.
Their patterns of travel would also differ, depending on experience. “Japanese people used to travel in groups and they are now more likely to do so independently.
“Dining options will need to be attractive to locals and visitors as well. Asian visitors wanted to experience local Australian cuisine but may well want food more familiar to them every
few days too.”
Research by Bernard Salt’s The Demographics Group shows how the mix of international tourists has changed.
“Western” visitors — mostly European and North American accounted for nearly nine out of 10 overseas tourists to Queensland in the mid-1970s. Driven by the success of the Japanese market, “Eastern” visitors made up half the total by the mid-1990s.
The Asian component had eased back to 37 per cent a decade ago, but the split is now exactly event again, with “Eastern” travellers forecast in the clear ascendancy going forward.
Tourism Australia chairman Bob East said: balance was important. “Asia is incredibly important to us and is the number goal to be frank. But it’s also important to continue to focus on the western market.
“People don’t want a proliferation of any one market. Chinese visitors don’t want to come here and find mostly other Chinese, just as Russians don’t want to find too many Russians where they go.”
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Originally published as Qld tourism: Sleeping giant India set to awaken
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