Tourism Australia prepares for higher number of visitors from Middle East

Tourism Australia (TA) kicks off a GCC-wide road show today in anticipation of a higher number of visitors.

Tourism Australia kicked off a road show from Kuwait today, which will later travel to Doha, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Attending the road show are industry representatives from Tourism Victoria, Tourism New South Wales, Tourism Queensland, Gold Coast Tourism, Tourism Australia, Victoria's Ski Fields, Tangalooma resort and JPT tours.

Aiming to showcase the varied travel options available in Australia and introduce trade partners to each other, Tourism Australia also hopes to tell more GCC nationals how easy it is now to get an Australian visa.

Australia welcomed nearly 63,000 Gulf residents in 2008, a 21% increase in the number of visitors last year as compared to 2007. Interestingly, almost two-thirds of the visitors (65%) were residents of the UAE, the country that was best connected to Australia. UAE nationals made up 35% of all visitors, while 35% were from Australia, the UK and India - the top three overseas visiting nationalities resident in the GCC.

"This year, we expect the number of tourists to grow at a higher pace because very soon there will be over a 100 direct flights connecting cities in the Middle East to Australian destinations, apart from the excellent connections offered by Malaysian Airlines, Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific"

said Andrew Oldfield, Distribution development manager, Tourism Australia.

Currently, Dubai's Emirates airline operates 63 flights per week to Australia, which it will increase to 70 in winter. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways flies 21 times a week to Australia while Doha-based Qatar Airways has announced plans to start flights in winter.

To keep up with the increasing interest from the region, the Australian government has progressively eased the application procedure for GCC nationals, creating online applications and making multi-entry visas standard. "All visas issued to GCC nationals are multi-entry, given for a period of two years and are valid for stays up to three months at a time," said Mr Oldfield.

Moreover, visas are label-free, which eliminates the need to physically part with passports. GCC residents planning to visit Australia should apply online and provide for at least three weeks' processing time before their trip.