Steps taken to Increase Australia Tourist Visas

Tourism Australia is looking at spending around AUD$90 million in promoting Australia to the overseas market, while Canberra (the capital city of the Australian Capital Territory) is hoping to benefit most from the campaign.

Part of the project involves the Federal Tourism Minister creating a new National Landscapes promotion, which is designed to entice international visitors to 1.6 million hectares of protected parks in Australia. This will add to the plans to draw more Australian tourist visa applicants to the Snowy Mountains or Australian Alps as they have been dubbed.

Total visitor expenditure increased during 2007, in the ACT, to almost 15%. This is an enormous increase in comparison to the total visitor expenditure for all of Australia, which in 2007 was a mere 7.1%

Federal Tourism Minister, Mr. Ferguson, said that the key market for the project would be Australian tourist visa holders who are seeking an experience, new adventure, destination and local culture.

Experts say the Australian tourism industry is taking a different direction now, and is being shaped by travel blogs and social networking sites, with hotels and hostels taking tips from the comments and opinions being put online. Tourism Australia's new promotional tactic will utilise the internet's capacity to reach previously untapped markets, which could amount to hundreds of thousands of young potential travelers around the world.