Reimagining the WA-India tourism industry was at the heart of a recent WA Tourism Reconnect webinar that focused on two-way tourism driving international student enrolments, trade and investment.
Hosted by the Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the State Government and Australia India Business Council, the webinar explored how to capitalise on open borders and new opportunities between the two countries.
Speaking on the panel, Michael Carter, head of CCIWA’s International Trade and Investment Centre, said the global tourism industry was significantly affected by COVID-19, but the re-opening of borders provided an opportunity for the role of government within tourism to be reimagined.
“Both industry and government can assist in providing an enhanced degree of coordination between public and private sectors involved in tourism to improve processes and the impact of stimulus packages,” he said.
“The safety and confidence of travellers needs to be high for tourism levels to increase. However, government travel restrictions or unclear, inconsistent communication reduces tourist levels.”
Pre-COVID, WA’s tourism industry was worth around $11 billion, while India’s was about 14 times the size at $160 billion.
Tourism was worth $4.6b of WA’s goods trading partnership with India last year.
What does it mean going forward?
Carter said if WA is to encourage more Indian high-value travellers to WA, “we need to consider how we can improve on the experiences that we are told Indian travellers relish about WA”.
This included:
- A world-class nature and wildlife;
- World-class coastlines, beaches, and marine wildlife;
- A safe and secure destination;
- Good food, wine, local cuisine and produce; and
- Family friendly destination.
Carter praised India’s Incredible India Campaign, which portrays India’s rich culture and history, amazing architecture, wonderfully welcoming people, amazing food and diverse scenery and landscape.
“The answer lies in effective in-market promotional activity and building on cultural and creative activities that increase the people-to-people linkages,” he added.
CCIWA will be part of the State Government’s Mission to India between July 12-19, which will focus on reconnecting India and WA and leveraging the interim free trade agreement between Australia and India; AI-ECTA.
The mission, led by Deputy Premier Roger Cook, will include visits to Delhi, Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Chennai, with a focus on business investment, tourism, education, events and innovation as well as government relations.
Carter will summarise key findings from the trip during CCIWA – AIBC India event on August 11.
The event will be an opportunity to hear more about doing business in the world’s largest democracy and the world’s fastest-growing major economy, with GDP projected to grow at 9 per cent over the next 18-24 months.
Tickets for the India Trade Mission Briefing can be found here.
Is your business ready to go global? Contact the team for a free consultation on (08) 9365 7620 or via [email protected].
