Blog #7: Tourism Australia

Today we went to Tourism Australia and heard Rachel Crowley the General Manager of Corporate Communication. The office was in a really pretty building decorated with Christmas trees but once you got to the actual office of Tourism Australia the scene changed.  There were pictures of places in Australia everywhere and all there was a colorful Kangaroo at the entrance. Rachel handout had some interesting figures about tourism including A$92 billion is the amount of spending tourism generates, A$33 billion amount tourism contributes to the economy, and there are .5 million tourism jobs. These figures show how important this sector is to the economy. It accounts for 2.6% of Australia’s GDP. Foreign tourists are extremely important to Australia’s economy in order for it to strive. According to Rachel, international tourism accounts for 38% of all expenditure in Australian tourism. China, the UK, and USA account for the most tourists. This is important because the more people that come into the country the more money is being spent within the country. New Zealand, UK and the United States contribute the most tourists to Australia. Rachel talked about the major destinations of these people including Sydney opera house, the Harbor Bridge, and the Ayers rock. Which, I was pleased to say; I have seen two out of the three and am planning on attending a show at the Opera house.

Some changes have influenced the tourism industry including the appreciation of the Australian dollar, airfare prices, and differences in ways of advertising their country. The Australian dollar has appreciated lately which, as Rachel talked about in her lecture, makes it more expensive for tourists to come and spend money.  Airfare is a huge factor in a tourists decision to go somewhere for holiday. If airfare prices are higher to go to Australia than another country, Australia may not be as attractive to them.  This was created because of Quantas and American Airlines being the only companies that provide services to Australia. Recently, Delta joined the mix, creating a competition which lowered prices which was great for Australia creating a boom in travelers entering the country. Also, Rachel was very excited when mentioning that the Oprah Show came to Australia which was great advertising for the country. They also have a Visiting Opinion Leader Program which brings people who are established bloggers or have opinions that influence a large number of people into the country to experience Australia and tell people about it.  This helps the industry and gets people to want to visit the country. 

This aggregate demand and aggregate supply diagram helps show how Australia’s stronger dollar is likely to affect exports and economic growth particularly in tourism. As the Interest rate increases the Australian dollar increases.  As aggregate demand increases, quantity increases. This affects sectors of the economy including tourism, higher education, mining, and wine which we are currently studying.

After the lecture about tourism which was very interesting considering that is what my final presentation will be on, Jen & I headed to Queen Victoria building for some shopping. We found that many of the shops were extremely expensive but very fashionable. We got to see a new area of the city which was great.