On Fri, 12 Oct 2007 20:35:20 +0800, tony@altavista.com wrote in
:
>On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 08:09:43 +1000, "David Bennetts"
> wrote:
>
>>
>>"Max Power" wrote in message
>>news:feh4k7$ah2$1@gnus01.u.washington.edu...
>>> Tourism implications of AUD's strenght aginst most world currencies (save
>>> NZD and CAD, where near parity has been in place for years)...
>>>
>>> My view per the USD case:
>>> 1. Americans only vacation for 2 weeks a year, and only the truly wealthy
>>> can afford to go to Australia for any lenght of time -- so no real change.
>>> 2. The US is so raft with internal economic corruption (like Russia, I
>>> know...) that the USD has no choice but to reach parity.
>>>
>>> Your thoughts:
>>Rather irrelevant, as US visitors to Australia don't make up a large
>>percentage of our inbound tourism market.
>>I'd suggest high airfares across the Pacific through a lack of competition
>>among airlines are a problem in attracting North American visitors - much
>>cheaper for them to visit Europe.
>>
>>Regards
>>
>>David Bennetts
>>
>
>Another of the main reasons off course is that many of them have not a
>clue where Australia is !!
I have heard of U.S. tourists arriving in Austria and asking
where the kangaroos were.:-)
This must be a bit embarrassing for Austrian tourist services in
Austria. How does a staff member explain to a tourist, who may
also be a customer, that they have come to the wrong country?
Surveys indicate that many young Americans are more than a bit
weak on geography. Not only world geography, but the geography
of the U.S.A.
Try googling the term
american geographic illiteracy
This will give the reader 447,000 results.
For instance, see:
Young Americans Geographically Illiterate, Survey Suggests
John Roach
for National Geographic News
May 2, 2006
"Young adults in the United States fail to understand the
world and their place in it, according to a survey-based report
on geographic literacy released today.
Take Iraq, for example. Despite nearly constant news coverage
since the war there began in 2003, 63 percent of Americans aged
18 to 24 failed to correctly locate the country on a map of the
Middle East. Seventy percent could not find Iran or Israel."
Americans who aren't depressed enough by this news should
read both pages of a report at
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/0502_060502_geography.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/m6lcd
To be fair, though, this seems a worldwide problem, from a 2002
report.
"Geographic knowledge increases through travel and language
proficiency, among other factors.
In the highest-scoring countries—Sweden, Germany and Italy—at
least 70 percent of the young adults had traveled internationally
in the last three years, and the majority spoke more than one
language (in Sweden, 92 and 89 percent, respectively).
In the U.S. and Mexico only about 20 percent had traveled abroad
during the same period and the majority spoke only one language."
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/11/1120_021120_GeoRoperSurvey_2.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/2rhkye
IMHO, though, the problem may be more basic. Americans have been
taught for decades that the USA was the best country in the
world, so many probably simply believe that there is no need to
travel anywhere else. Many or perhaps most have never had a
passport.
As to cost of travel, I wonder what percentage of Americans have
even been in Canada or Mexico.
In a quick search for this info I tried googling
percentage americans who have visited canada mexico
about 1,200,000 results.
Surprisingly, there seems to be a lot of differing opinions on
how many Americans even have passports! Opinions vary
on following site from 7% to 25%
See:
How many Americans own passports?
http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2003/01/31/how_many_america.php
20% is suggested, and that seems a reasonable figure.
However, Expedia says
Expedia finds an intrepid explorer in most Americans, even though
only 27 percent of adults hold a valid passport
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
"More than 85,000 people have found their Travel Quotient
(TQ) through a unique quiz devised by Expedia® to measure the
travel knowledge and personality of Americans. “Intrepid
Explorer” won out as the top travel persona, even though
Expedia’s survey by Harris Interactive found that a quarter (25
percent) of American adults have never left the U.S., and just
over one-third (36 percent) have visited more than two countries.
The survey also found that only 4 in 10 (42 percent) Americans
have ever held a U.S. passport."
http://www.traveldailynews.com/new.asp?newid=16764&subcategory_id=77
Perhaps the Australian Tourist Commission should sponsor a
contest in the US? They could call people at random and ask if
there are kangaroos in Austria. Those that get the question
wrong are out of the contest.:-)
More seriously, though, if they really want to increase tourism
to Australia, they should seek "movers and shakers" of public
opinion in the US.
Were I a travel agent, although I'm not, I would put together a
two week all expense package tour of Australia. When had arrived
at a figure for one or two people, I would approach the relevant
Australia Tourism authority for funding.
What would I be looking at? For a start, of course, business for
my agency, so all recipients of the travel package would have to
book with my organization.
A package for one person, who may be a travel writer for a major
newspaper or magazine? Or he and his wife, or he and his friend,
or perhaps even families?
Personally, would be tempted to offer the package to the
Australian Government at cost, foregoing my usual 10% profit, as
I would feel that the future free advertising for my agency would
more than cover this.
Winners would be required to mention my agency, of course.
My target? Travel writers for major US newspapers and magazines.
Should they be offered a free holiday to Australia? Or their
wives or partners or friends, or the whole family?
Confining this for the moment to the travel writer only, would
then pick the top 20 or 30 newspapers and/or magazines in the
USA.
Actually, I wouldn't even have to do this, as the information is
available online. See, for example,
http://www.scribd.com/doc/326039/BurrellesLuce-2007-Top-Newspapers-Blogs-Consumer-Magazines
or
http://tinyurl.com/3367o6
Now would be a particularly good time to do it as we shortly have
an election coming up in Australia. I would be sure to contact
the major parties, which are "Labor" and the "Liberal/CP"
coalition, which gives them a chance to announce this as a new
initiative if they get elected.
In fact, on further thought as I write this post, would probably
contact them first rather than the relevant Gov't department.
No need to have a "contest" of any sort, actually. Were I doing
it, I would probably try to put together a package for wife, or
wife and kids. Travel writers often get a holiday to exotic
destinations for themselves, but I would want to try to outdo the
business opposition, if possible, by offering a "family package".
I would, of course, check with airlines, etc. to see if I could
get any additional discount...or should I? They might steal the
concept, after all.
Anyway, would concentrate on the top 30 newspapers, as they have
more subscribers than travel magazines.
So for all you travel agents on the group, how good a package
could you put together for the travel writers of the top 30
papers in the USA? See link provided above if you don't know
them.
Alternatively, how much for an all-expense paid tour for
two people? A family?
The more people we attract, the more money is spent here, no?
For the travel agents who may read this, don't forget that the
seasons are reversed in the Southern Hemisphere, so we are
fast approaching summer.
Keen businessmen should realise the lure of a free holiday to
travel writers and their families on the approach of Christmas.
What better gift to their family than a two week, or longer,
holiday in Australia?
Especially if they live in one of the colder regions of the USA.
The more I consider this concept, the more I am surprised that
it hasn't been tried already, and to my knowledge it hasn't.
I may be mistaken, of course, those in the industry should know,
or be able to find out with a little research.
The more tourists we get, we get a boost to the economy, although
it is doing rather well at the moment.
Retail sales are forecast to be down a little as many Aussies are
having trouble meeting their mortgage payments.
As are a lot of Americans. So, for a further idea, perhaps there
should be a bit of a "contest" after all. In addition to the
free holiday for individual, spouse, or family, perhaps the
additional incentive for these travel writers would be an a small
contest in which they were selected in a random draw which would
pay off their mortgage if any?
Anyway, have other posts to answer, other things to do, so
will toss out the ideas in this post and see if anyone responds.
These days in business, we have to "think big", don't we?
No, I don't expect any personal reward or even thanks for
suggesting this approach. So I won't even give my actual e-mail
address. Enough reward to me if my posts are read, and
Australia, my adopted country benefits.
Given the current competition in business in the USA perhaps
I should feel like a person tossing a beefsteak to a pack of
half-starved Rottweiler's.
Perhaps, though, this offering will silence some of my critics!
On this as well as the immigration group....
Will refrain from mentioning any names, but those who follow both
groups can probably guess. :-)
Let the fun began!
Cheers,
Kangaroo16
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