(www.travelweeklyeast.com 2004-07-27)
Australia will not be rushed into accelerating its marketing in China despite an increase in the number of regions it can target through ADS (Approved Destination Status).
¡°With China, it¡¯s step by step, we make sure we can manage every step we take,¡± said Richard Beere (pictured), Tourism Australia¡¯s acting executive general manager, marketing.
¡°Maybe we¡¯re not moving as fast as China expects, but the challenge in China is the managing the opportunities.¡±
The news ADS regions for Australia are Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province, Tianjin, Hebei Province, Shandong Province and
Chongqing ¨C regions whose population is estimated at 330 million.
¡°Our strategy is to access a sector, win it, consolidate and then move on to the next sector,¡± said Beere.
¡°The people who struggle are those who are always chasing the next opportunity but never winning it.¡±
Beere said that of 67 travel agents in China previously licensed to sell outbound, 30 of these could sell Australia.
¡°Overnight, the number of licensed travel agents went to 528. What that meant for us was that we went from 30 to 173 agents able to sell Australia.
¡°It took us two years to train the initial group and now we have another 143 to work with. We are working with these agents 50 at a time over three-month periods.
¡°We need to make sure they are well trained in all aspects of Australia, including issues to do with immigration and electronic visas,¡± he said.
May Tang, Tourism Australia¡¯s manager and chief representative in China, said that product knowledge was a training priority for agents.
¡°Altogether between 185-200 agents have finished three modules of the Aussie Specialist training programme -that¡¯s nearly 200 travel agents in China who know Australian tourism products better than the average Australian.¡±
Tang said that in the new ADS regions, the focus would be on trade rather than consumer sectors.
¡°Consumer expectations of a trip to Australia vary from one province in China to another, so this will be a learning curve for all of us,¡± she added.
