China is increasingly vital for Melbourne and an 88% rise in the number of room nights booked in 2013 saw it exceed Hong Kong, Indonesia and Japan.
Global distributor GTA hosts a workshop this week (3 July 2014) for Melbourne’s travel and hospitality businesses to learn more about international demand for the properties, services and experiences. The event aims to help guests understand more about the potential of traditional and newer source markets and the expectations of the world’s travel agents and tour operators– and their customers.
The workshop is hosted by Andrew Boocock, GTA’s Market Manager dedicated to sourcing throughout Melbourne. He says: “This is a chance to meet the GTA sourcing team and discuss activities with our Melbourne-based sales and marketing team who will also be in attendance. We’re really looking forward to welcoming Melbourne’s travel and hospitality businesses to learn more about how GTA can help them win more customers from around the world.”
The number of room nights in Melbourne booked through GTA has been growing by more than 8% a year on average (CAGR) since 2010 and by 37% in 2013 alone. Domestic tourism remains an important source with bookings by the Australian travel trade up 8%, while the UK remains the second most influential. China is increasingly vital for Melbourne and an 88% rise in the number of room nights booked in 2013 saw it exceed Hong Kong, Indonesia and Japan. Other significant year on year increases were from Greece, Italy, Singapore, Spain, Thailand and Turkey. All enjoyed double or triple digit increases in the number of room nights booked.
GTA’s technology, destination expertise and service standards have been helping businesses accommodate fully independent travellers (FIT) on practically every part of the planet. Given that success, providers of Melbourne’s accommodation, tours, activities, attractions and experiences have been turning to GTA for nearly four decades to help them affordably reach more and newer customers from around the world.
“We will give our supplier partners additional market intelligence and insights from around the world and show how they can actively engage with GTA’s marketing activities to bring more guests to their doors,” says Stuart Dale, GTA’s Head of Sourcing for Asia Pacific, who will fly in from Hong Kong to provide a global picture of GTA’s vision for 2014/15 and beyond.
“Working collaboratively with our partners and investing in such events helps them win more business, so we hope to do more in the future.”
Andrew and Stuart will be joined by GTA’s newly appointed Area Sourcing Manager for the Pacific region, Kevin Looney. Most recently Regional Director of Channel Management for Asia Pacific at TravelClick, Kevin has a wealth of experience in the market. He brings particular insight into how GTA will further improve its relationships with channel managers to the benefit of hoteliers.
Bobby Perovic, Market Manager for Western Australia and the Northern Territory will also be present to share his expertise and insights.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
