Connecting with Asia: Preparing local operators for post-COVID travellers

15 December 2021: International tourism has long been a powerhouse of the Australian economy, alongside energy and resources, and education. With a peak of 9.3 million international visitors in 2018-19, prior to the COVID pandemic, it was a A$45 billion industry, and, with one in twenty people working in the sector, directly employed 5% of Australia’s workforce.1 

The global pandemic and the closing of Australia’s international borders caused unprecedented disruption bringing the sector to an (almost two year) standstill. But as Australia now looks to begin gradually reopening the doors to international travel, it is timely to consider how to best prepare local operators and communities for success.  

This is particularly pressing for regional Australia where the contribution of tourism to the local economy and job creation is even greater, providing twice the proportion of jobs in comparison to the major cities.2  

So, what might this next phase of ‘post-COVID’ travel to our regions look like and how can local operators upskill?  

Prior to COVID-19, countries in Asia accounted for 7 out of 10 of Australia’s top tourism markets.3 This growth was in part due to rising household disposable income in Asia and policy changes which contributed to an almost fourfold increase in airline capacity directly between Australia and China, amongst other source countries.4  

In the 12 months from July 2018 to June 2019, over 1.4 million Chinese tourists visited Australia contributing about A$12 billion to the Australian economy.5 Australia was also increasingly seeing visitors from Southeast Asia (including Singapore) and India. In 2019, India was Australia’s fastest-growing market for visitor spend and Australia’s seventh largest inbound market for visitor arrivals. 

Tourism businesses with the products, services and service culture to cater for Asian visitors will be well positioned for future growth. The case for investing in this now is further strengthened by the opportunities presented by the growing Asian-Australian domestic travel market. For example, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in 2020, over 700,000 people living in Australia were born in India, which has more than doubled in the last 5 years, and over 650,000 born in China.6 

Asialink Business is the National Centre for Asia Capability, and is at the forefront in supporting organisations to deepen their Asia capabilities - the skills, knowledge, insights, networks and connections needed to succeed when doing business with the Indo-Pacific region.  

Asialink Business in partnership with Victoria’s Warrnambool City Council saw the opportunity to prepare local businesses for the return of international travel to Victoria’s world-famous tourism destinations, and with this the Connecting With Asia program was born.  ​ 

The program was specifically designed to assist tourism operators in Victoria’s iconic Great Ocean Road Region, extending from Torquay on the Surf Coast to the South Australian border, recover from the impact of COVID-19. It focussed on building the capability and skills to engage with the growing domestic Asian-Australian and Asian diaspora communities and to build an understanding of the needs of travellers from key markets, including the actions tourism operators could take to respond to these.  

Given the size and diversity of the Great Ocean Road region, the program was able to draw on a unique collaboration between the five local government areas (LGAs): Colac Otway, Corangamite, Moyne, the Surf Coast and Warrnambool, supported by Regional Development Victoria and Warrnambool’s Deakin University.  

Economic Development professionals across these councils saw the program as an opportunity to support businesses to successfully pivot to the diverse domestic international market.  They wanted to equip tourism operators in their LGA to adjust to the different types of travellers and visitors likely to be seen over the next few years while international borders were shut and also allow them the opportunity to prepare for the long term once international borders reopen.  These councils understand that it is essential to ensure businesses along the Great Ocean Road are able to deliver exceptional standards of visitor servicing to the Asian market in order to gain and retain a share of this lucrative sector. Local council support was important to the program and assisting tourism operators to capitalise on the growth opportunities presented by Asia. 

Even without the challenges of a pandemic, regional tourism operators faced their own headwinds in attracting the Asian tourist market.  Asian travellers have limited visibility of regional tourism destinations and additionally many regions were not ready to meet the demands of international Asian tourists.  

Along the Great Ocean Road, tourism operators were underperforming in providing relevant and quality products, services and experiences for Asian travellers. The opportunity to shop, focus on health and wellbeing, experience both new but also familiar cuisine, and find value for money, are all core considerations for this market.  There were gaps in marketing and the use of digital tools, and businesses were not yet ready to provide offerings or payment options suited to the needs of visitors from different Asian markets.    

The Connecting With Asia program was a five-month journey for selected businesses across the Great Ocean Road region and comprised of a series of digital and in person workshops. The program brought together expert speakers and mentors, and shared examples of businesses in the region and beyond who had successfully developed strategies to attract and serve Asian visitors.  Although select businesses were chosen by their LGAs to be part of the Connecting With Asia program, there was an intention to build the knowledge and skills of the broader community. To do this, the program included a series of public events to build interest in the Asian market and to share key elements of the program.  The Connecting With Asia program also encouraged networking, insight sharing, and mentoring to build a community with a collective and ongoing interest in improving their capability and skills to engage with Asian travellers after the formal program was over. 

At the start of the program, participating businesses shared that they hoped to better understand the Asian visitor segment and what was important to this market. They wanted to expand their offerings to suit this market and develop a visitor experience that would be meaningful to travellers from Asia. The businesses were also keen to know how they could improve their ability to communicate with visitors from different backgrounds and where they could adapt their current processes and business practices to be more responsive to expectations of Asian visitors.  Over the course of five months the Connecting With Asia program, delivered by Asialink Business and a specialist team of cultural capability and tourism experts set out to help them do just that.  

The program introduced the tourism potential of the Asian-Australian market as an important domestic audience and a bridge to the international Asian visitor market, and focussed on the key markets of China, India and Southeast Asia. In addition to workshop sessions which explored traveller profiles, preferences and expectations for each market, the program focused on practical experiences that built understanding and inspired new thinking, including interviews with potential travellers, masterclass sessions with industry experts in Australia, China, India and Indonesia, a case study site visit to consider how best to tailor their own offerings to targeted Asian tourist markets, and the opportunity to meet and learn from alumni of an earlier initiative focused on working with Chinese visitors. 

With the increasing importance of digital capability, the program explored the digital landscapes for China, India and Southeast Asia and the ways technology and digital tools are used to inspire and plan travel and in booking and payment.  The aim of the program was to build skills participants could apply immediately.  

For example, the program included practical sessions on using the sophisticated functionality of WeChat, an introduction to Chinese language, tips for translation and working with translation services.  During the program participants generated their own insights into what would be key for their businesses to attract and service Asian travellers and conducted a personal audit in light of this.  

Participants all agreed that the program strengthened their understanding of differences that exist between Australia and Asia and that their ability to engage with Asia had improved.  The participants used the learnings from the program to identify practical changes they could implement and ways their LGA could support them.   

The Economic Development team from across the local councils joined the final workshop of the program and provided helpful tips to support businesses in accessing resources and grants if financial assistance was required to implement some of the changes identified. A core sentiment amongst the Connecting With Asia graduates was that they did not only want to attract more Asian visitors to the Great Ocean Road region but they wanted to find ways to encourage Asian travellers to stay longer in the region. The program culminated in participating businesses and councils working together to create a collaborative regional itinerary for travellers to the Great Ocean Road.  The itinerary had a slant towards the multi-generational family with a range of suitable accommodation and experiences to choose from. It also provided families or groups the option of how long to stay, for example, a weekend or a longer period of time with an overall intention to keep visitors coming back for more. 

Suffoir is a working farm which houses a micro-winery, brewery, cidery, distillery and a cellar door. It is situated amongst the stunning landscape of MacArthur, a town in the Western District of Victoria and in the Shire of Moyne local government area. Two years ago, Suffoir owners, Michelle and Pieter Badenhorst, were on the verge of selling their business, finding themselves at a crossroad of either completely scaling back or developing further to be able to justify expanding and taking on staff. 

Although COVID added financial pressure they used the time to reflect and “go full steam ahead”, adapting their offerings for Asian travellers.  

While COVID continues to challenge the industry, working collaboratively and focusing firmly on the future has allowed LGAs along the Great Ocean Road to use this time where economic activity is curtailed, to invest in local tourism operators and help prepare their local communities to prosper once borders reopen. 

By Catherine Mudford and Shahira Popat, Asialink Business

This article first appeared in the Economic Development Journal

References 

1 Tourism Research Australia (2020). State of the Industry 2018–19. Retrieved from  https://www.tra.gov.au/Economic-analysis/State-of-the-Industry/state-of-the-industry 

2 Deloitte (2021). The Value of Tourism. Retrieved from https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/au/Documents/Economics/deloitte-au-dae-value-of-tourism-080721.pdf 

3 Tourism Research Australia (2019) International Visitors in Australia Year Ending December 2019. Retrieved from https://www.tra.gov.au/ArticleDocuments/185/IVS_Summary_YE_Dec_2019.pdf.aspx

4 Grozinger, P and Parsons, S (2020). The COVID-19 Outbreak and Australia's Education and Tourism Exports. Retrieved from https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2020/dec/the-covid-19-outbreak-and-australias-education-and-tourism-exports.html#fn0 

5 Tourism Australia (2019) International Market Performance Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.tourism.australia.com/en/markets-and-stats/tourism-statistics/international-market-performance.html 

6 Australian Bureau of Statistics (2020) Migration, Australia. Retrieved from https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/migration-australia/2019-20