Thursday, November 29, 2012

Some Takeouts From the ATEC conference

Some takeouts from the ATEC conference yesterday.

Sandra Chipchace, Destination NSW
- Sydney aiming for strong visitor growth
- DNSW ran an innovative campaign to encourage Sydneysiders to visit regions.
- good campaign aimed at encouraging VFR market
- whole of Govt approach to visitor economy

Clifford Bennett, economist
- Aussie dollar to stay above parity, if not higher. But good new is this is the result of increased prosperity in Asia, which will result in increased visitation from these countries.
- Europe showing increasing life & should not be written off.
- US also recovering.
- however our attitude needs to be "I am Australian => I am Asian".
- China will remain strong, facing 2nd wave of growth.
- less than half of Chinese exports go to US or Europe, so less affected by downturn than we might expect.
- China turning to consumer growth.

National Australia Bank
- now accepting Chinese "Union Pay" card
- Chinese restricted in cash they can take out of country & have limited access to Visa, MC, so card allows them to increase discretionary spending when traveling.
- very large transactions, average $800, some in millions.
- more UP cards than Visa now.

Product Development Workshop
- what is unique? If we rely on generic products (wineries, beaches) it will eventually come down to price & we can't win there.
- what is product? Often defined by service
- need to be best of best
- develop encounters and experiences that are unique.
- quality, value & service will make bargain, not discounting.
- allowing access to Internet will let guests brag, valuable marketing.

No comments:

Post a Comment