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Air India's non stop services to Sydney and Melbourne from August end will boost tourism in Australia, Tourism Austraia's managing director, Andrew McEvoy has said. Air India is making a return to the Australian market after 16 years.
Close to 1,60,000 Indians visited Australia in 2012, spending nearly A$800 mn (Rs 4,320 crore). By 2020, Tourism Australia believes the market has the potential to rise in annual value to up to A$2.3 billion and generate about 3,00,000 annual visitors, Tourism Australia said in a statement. The spend amount includes costs incurred on air travel, hotels, meals, activities and shopping.
“Preliminary analysis suggests we’ll need around 3,45,000 additional seats to meet the expected demand for Australia from India out to 2020. On top of the capacity that already exists, these new, direct services soon to be launched by Air India represent a huge boost in realising the full potential of this important market,'' McEvoy said in a statement today.
McEvoy said that, under its India 2020 tourism plan, Tourism Australia had already doubled its marketing spend in India this year, and had made creating a sustainable, competitive aviation market between Australia and India one of its key priorities.
