Australian tour operator, Lawand Tourism, has posted a 250 % growth in its Middle East sales during the last three years and expects a further increase this year, following a bigger participation in Arabian Travel Market…
Australian tour operator, Lawand Tourism, has posted a 250 % growth in its Middle East sales during the last three years and expects a further increase this year, following a bigger participation in Arabian Travel Market – the Middle East`s premier travel and tourism exhibition, which will be held at the Dubai World Trade Centre from May 1 – 4.
Out of 50,000 Middle Eastern tourists that arrived in Australia in 1999/2000, more than a fifth arrived during July and August, said Nassif Lawand, Managing Director, Marketing, Lawand Tourism. We expect more people this year given the improving economic conditions in the region and increased awareness of Australia among the trade and general public.
The positive exposure achieved during the Olympic Games coupled with the fact that the process of obtaining Australian visit visas has also been simplified make it an irresistible tourist destination.
To meet rising demand for information on Australia, we have doubled the size of our team, opened a permanent office in the Gold Coast and developed our own state-of-the-art online reservations system tailor-made specifically for Middle Eastern markets, added Nassif.
Lawand will be officially launching new travel products that include the first Arabic / English Australian property directory and the second edition of the Arabic / English Australian consumer magazine, Australia – Talk of the Town, and a fold-out map of the Gold Coast.
Royal Woods, one of the partner suppliers of Lawand Tourism, will be staging a draw at the Lawand stand during the show with free accommodation as the prize.
According to a World Travel Monitor report, GCC residents spent US $ 27 billion on travel in 2000 spending on average twice as much as European tourists, said Matt Thompson, Group Exhibition Director, Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) which organises the show.
The report also adds Australia ranked first among their `superstar` tourist destinations reflecting growing interest in the country, he added.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales. She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
