Last week, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released some extraordinary figures:
- In 2010-11, 79% of persons aged 15 years and over had accessed the internet in the previous 12 months
- 68% of internet users had used the internet to purchase or order goods or services for private purposes,
- Of the people who had made a purchase over the internet, 74% purchased Travel, accommodation, memberships or tickets of some kind.
One of the most common discussions I hear in tourism (at the small business end) is around the role of branding. There often seems to be an assumption that virtue will be rewarded – if you are good enough you don’t need to boast about it.
It vaguely reminds me of Juliet’s lament in Shakespeare’s play when she bemoans Romeo’s name (being from the rival gang in the Verona ‘hood) observing that ‘a rose by any other name would smell as sweet’.
Over years of working with brands I have come to the conclusion that Juliet was wrong. A rose would NOT smell as sweet if it wasn’t called a rose. The reason is that smell is an intangible thing – we know that it is nice or nasty, but until we build some identity around it we don’t know how to describe it.
Australia has gone from being a net exporter of tourism to a net importer. This has had a huge impact on Australia’s economy. A report in 2010 by Goldman Sachs concluded that one of the key reasons that Australia’s retail sector was in such dire straits was this change. Growth in visitor numbers slowed down and expenditure stabilised or fell back.
When you listen to the tourism industry, the villain of the piece seems to be the Australian dollar. Until this week’s financial roller coaster, the Aussie was riding at historic highs against major currencies like the dollar, the euro and the pound. Given how many emerging markets peg their currency to the dollar, this effectively made Australia a more expensive destination than formerly. The general industry conclusion seemed to be that this is an act of god for which we can do nothing except ask the government for handouts.
The number of Australians who are intending to travel overseas for a holiday over the next 12 month is at it’s highest point for the last 5 years according to Roy Morgan Research. This is an increase of 10% for the same time last year (July 2010). Hot spots include: USA mainland, Hawaii, Canada, China, and Bali.
Australians intention to travel domestically on their next holiday is down by 4% (58% to 54%) compared to July 2010.
