Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee [Part 2], , 46:28 to 58:49
Managing Director Robin Mack provides an update on Tourism Australia's KPIs and the 'Come and Say G'Day' campaign, noting strong performance in the US, China, and UK markets.
Topics: Tourism
Speakers: Robin Mack, Sarah Henderson, Raff Ciccone, Senator Raff Ciccone, Senator Sarah Henderson
>> All right. Uh, I now like to welcome managing director of tourism Australia, Mr. Mack. Hello. And, uh, to all your officers at the table. >> Did you have an opening statement?
>> I do have an opening statement. I can table it or read it. It's up to yourself, chair.
>> Uh, if you have a table, that'd be awesome. And we'll get straight to
questions. >> I can do that.
>> All right. And we'll get a copy, which is just come in here. Um, Senator
Henderson, you have the call. >> Uh, Mr. Mac. Uh, I've just received your opening statement. So, this is a summary of your work since the last time you appeared. Can I ask you about your KPIs for 202526? >> Mhm. If you could just go through those and just indicate which you are exceeding, which you are meeting and if any uh which uh are perhaps falling
behind. >> Yes, I can do that for you, Senator. Um and thank you, Robin Mack, managing director, Tourism Australia. Uh for us, when we look at KPIs overall, we look at visitation um expenditure as well. I'll just ask my colleague to see if I can get the latest that we have on um our expenditure. But while that's coming up, one of the measures that we do look at in terms of KPIs is um consideration that comes through in terms of our campaigns and awareness that we reach. So if I look at FY25 that reached um 55.2% 2% um at 54 uh and um we also look at expenditure as well and we look at the bid fund program. Well, I'm just getting the the stats um but from the bid fund program we look at which is actually for context of the bid fund program that's a suspension fund that we support our industry around the country when they're bidding at the critical competitive stage of winning international incentives and conferences coming to Australia. uh we have a suspension called the bid fund program uh and we monitor the return on investment that gives us. So for every dollar that we invest in that that gives us $52 return as a bid fund perspective. Uh we also look at what the rating is for our events and satisfaction of our events. We hold over 50 events around the world for our industry uh to be able to connect in with us um and do business for distribution around the world and for that um we have a target of 91% and forgive me but I think it was in the '9s uh 95% I think from memory but I'll take that on notice to confirm it but exceeding that and then we look at expenditure overall uh for the visitors
as well as leisure expenditure as well. So, uh, which KPIs, if any, are behind
target this financial year? >> So, we're we're at the moment in terms of where we're at for the the targets, I'd say, it's a bit early to say before the end of the year because we're only we've got a bit of a backlog on data. So, we have targets as at um the last data we have for expenditure is September. So, we obviously look at financial year through to June. So, we'll have a bit of a time lag. So, it's hard to say at this stage, Senator, if we're behind on those targets. Um, but we we certainly have them in place as an
organization with our KPIs >> and just but year to year. So, September to September the previous year. >> Yes. >> Uh, how are you tracking >> September to the previous year >> in terms of the data you do have? >> Yes. Yeah. >> Is that is that one KPI where you're concerned that you may be falling behind
>> at this stage? No. the the one that we've look at is the international expenditure and where we're at with that. Um, but it's it's a little bit early, as I say, in this financial year to make a prediction of of where we'll be heading, but um, >> can you do year-on-year comparisons? >> I can I can take that on notice to give you that. I don't have it in front of me here, but I I can look at that. Yes.
>> And are there any trends where you feel that you're on track or is there any any one of your KPIs where you think you're falling behind based on what you've seen
so far? Yeah, from a bid fund perspective, definitely not. I know that's tracking really well. Um, since we launched the program in 2018, uh, we actually have had 205 wins out to 2029. It's delivering 1.38 billion to the visitor economy. In fact, that's an increase of 380 million that we've had in the last 12 months. So, tracking very well on the bid fund. Um, our event scores and satisfaction are tracking well as well. uh business events overall and the return of our business events numbers um are probably that's the one that's uh uh fallen behind a little bit in terms of the latest stats. The others are all we're seeing growth, but the business events ones uh of expenditure has fallen behind a little bit. So that's one we're monitoring closely, but again that's data to September. Um so we're looking at that, but it's still the business event sector brings in I think it's 3.96 billion in terms of
economic value. If you could provide year-on-year data and so we can just have a look at certainly how things are tracking that would be we would be most grateful. What about the current total come and say good day campaign spend by financial year? >> Yes. Um >> and happy to take this on notice. Thank you Senator. >> Is there any snapshot you can provide of
that campaign? >> I can I can while my colleagues looking for that in terms of spend and where we're at but what I can tell you is it performance-wise and how it's going. So we did the uh the chapter 2 launch in August of come and say good day. We launched it a few years ago and um 130 million will be spent on that over two years uh in our 16 markets around the world. In terms of results though overall that's already had 522 million video views um and had an ROI let me
tell you actually
>> and is that mainly Robert Irwin? Robert Irwin is definitely a key part of that. Um, but that's across the whole videos that we have, the ass the film assets that we have. He stars in several of them. Um, but he's certainly giving us a welcome boost. We actually have a breakdown of that um by market. And I can tell you that for the US, um, for the US, we are at I think it was 7 million. Bear with me one second. Here we go. Um, of those 522 million views, 105 million of those have been in the US. So that is very much uh Robert Irwin. Um, and also second to that, actually just a little bit above that is China at 109 uh million views. So it breaks down across uh the markets as
well. And if I >> So what are the just to go for the breakdown of markets? What are the top five markets where the campaign improved conversion and where it underperformed as well? Are you able to just
>> Yeah, I don't have a breakdown by market on conf on by market on performance of the campaign. I can take it on notice and and get it for you, but overall we're extremely happy with the campaign. I'd actually be surprised, but I will take it on notice that we haven't exceeded the target set for each of our markets because it's performing so well. It's really resonating with the target audience. It's it's the consideration of people seeing the advert and then actually wanting to take the next step is is super positive uh in terms of what we've got. In fact, um the stats we had just after launch were 83% who saw the advert said they would consider traveling to Australia after seeing the campaign. 77% said they would plan a trip to Australia in the next two years after seeing the campaign. And nearly nine in 10 of our high yielding travelers want to find out more of Australia is seeing the advert. So what we'll be able to provide on notice is where we're at in terms of the delivery in each of those markets against the campaign. What we work on separately though is what we do with our partnerships to convert the activity. Now we work with about 150 partners around the world every year, 24 airlines, key distribution partners. A lot of those campaigns are running um currently. But what we can supply you and I can actually share now in terms of the results of our campaigns from last financial year in terms of what we delivered for the partnerships which might give you an indication uh is 20% increase in terms of the target that we were set in incremental growth for the passengers that were booked as a result
of those campaigns. And what about the markets in terms of comparison with precoid? >> Yes. >> Performance. So can I just ask about how you're tracking? >> Absolutely. >> And what is Tourism Australia's specific recovery plan per market? >> Yes. >> Given where you're at as compared to
pre-COVID. >> Yes, absolutely. And it actually does vary by market. So I'm glad you said that because it really um as I say it's a different um case for every market but those if we look back at 2019 in terms of the statistics and what they've achieved u beyond those numbers so far uh we have India we have South Korea we have UK uh we have Indonesia France and Italy Vietnam and New Zealand so we target 16 markets so that's eight of our 16 markets have already surpassed 2019 figures in terms of visitation Uh one of the standouts for that is South Korea which is actually um 143% up so 43% up of where they were in 2019. So going phenomenally well and aviation is a critical part of that success. Uh India is going well. Um the UK is a standout market more most recently because uh particularly because of the Lions uh rugby tour earlier in last year in July but then the Ashes in the latter part of the year uh drove a phenomenal increase. In fact, numbers just came out today for arrivals. And for the UK market, uh we were um we saw the biggest number we've ever had from the UK in one particular month, 138,000 arrivals, which was up 33% uh on the previous year. So that is going phenomenally well. Uh and the other markets a slower return in some of them. Um, China is actually one of our fastest growing markets if we look at it year-to-year, but it's still down on where it was precoid levels about 30%. Uh, so it's a slower return on that. Um, but the numbers that we are getting from a tourism perspective is very much a quality visitor uh that's coming through. We're getting a lot more fit travelers, less of the larger groups that are coming through. Uh, and actually the business event sector from China because you have to kind of break down each market by sector of travel. the business event sector is actually exceeding 2019 as well.
>> Could we just get an update in terms of each market and each sector? Yes. >> Precoid uh to now just so we can I can take that on those senator. Yes. >> And if you could just provide and if there is any insights that you can provide in terms of where your uh where we're underperforming as a country and what TA is doing about that. So do you if you okay are there any specific initiatives is there any particular markets where >> things are not going so well and how TA
is going to address that? Yeah, I can talk about how we address each market. We can give this the the data on notice. Absolutely. In terms of how we address them, we obviously um adapt our strategy in each market. We have a degree of our brand activity. Come and say good day to drive consideration of Australia and keep it top of mind. At any one time, the consumer in our target markets is thinking no more of two or three destinations of where they're looking for. It's incredibly competitive. So we're trying to keep Australia top of mind with the come and say goodday campaign leading on that. Then we'll work with partners in every market around the world. But then we have a degree of activity to support it. Think of it like an ecosystem for each market. So we'll be training travel agents through our Aussie specialist program on how best to sell it. We'll be bringing the key decision makers across to our events here like Australia Tourism Exchange. So the levers that we pull to um ch to increase that recovery are very much in place for every market. We actually um uh through our annual operating plan obviously do a bespoke strategy for each market to meet the needs with the budget that we have.