It has been six months since your last update. What recent changes are impacting life in North America now?

The last six months here have been much like in many other countries with the rapid emergence of Omicron on this country which led to what seemed to be almost daily records of case counts, reaching one million cases on some days in early January in the USA. Having evaded COVID-19 throughout the pandemic, it’s seems like all of us have either had COVID-19 or know someone that has it. Thankfully, given the reduced severity of the strain, impacts on fatalities and hospitalisations have not increased, and changes to restrictions were more marked during the period. In Canada, a much more cautious approach was taken with early pandemic lockdown restrictions being implemented. Thankfully now, we seem to have passed the peak of the strain and we do seem to be transitioning to a ‘living with COVID’ outlook across North America, and consequently this is being seen in uptick in travel bookings and airline capacity.

Can you share insights into your plans to support recovery from the North America market?

We have been talking a lot over the last few months about work going on behind the scenes to get ready for travel to recommence and with the recent announcement of the Australian border opening we are finally ready to put our plans into action! You will have seen the launch of the ‘Don’t Go Small, Go Australia’ campaign that we are rolling out in the USA and Canada. We kicked off our campaign early and over the last couple of weeks we have had a billboard in Time Square, New York, and we also had an advertisement running in between Super Bowl and Winter Olympics coverage. In Canada we also planning an activation in the next couple of weeks to celebrate and welcome Canadians back to Australia. 

Early in March we will launch a broader marketing campaign to tell as many North Americans as we can that Australia is open. This will be supported by direct work with our key wholesale and retail partners in market to drive conversion and then later in April we will launch further activity with our airline partners and Expedia. In April, the Tourism Australia team, in partnership with our State and Territory partners will be on the road with a trade and media roadshow across 11 key cities in the USA and Canada to re-connect and excite travel advisors and journalists about Australia. And lastly, we are now working hard to get as many buyers down to the Australian Tourism Exchange as we can to reconnect with our industry in Australia.

How is the North America travel trade faring?

Since our last update, there has been an ongoing sense of optimism with the travel trade in this market. Whilst Omicron was not the end to the year that the industry would have hoped for, it quickly became apparent that the impact on travel demand was not as severe as when the Delta variant emerged earlier last year. Whilst it is still tough going out there for the trade, there is definitely a real turn and growth in business. It would be remiss of me to not acknowledge that our specialist wholesale and retail partners in market, those that focus on South Pacific, have of course being doing it tougher than most. We had them all together in Los Angeles in December for a planning meeting and back then I think there was a sense of light coming slowly at the end of the tunnel. Having spoken to all of these partners since the Australian border opening news broke, they are all really energised and excited to get back to selling Australia. All have been extremely busy since then working with clients that have been waiting for the news and getting packages ready to promote with our new campaign.

Are you seeing evidence of any emerging consumer travel trends that are relevant for travel to Australia?

There are three key trends that we have continued to see for long haul travel out of these markets – travellers are staying longer, spending more (upgrading their experiences), and also seeking our more unique and off the beaten path experiences. For some countries we are seeing as much as 20 to 25 per cent more on average trip spend. 

And personally, what is on your wish list of experiences when you get the chance to return to Australia?

Top of my list is a trip to the Whitsundays! I love being on the water and the islands are beautiful out there so I can’t wait.