BadgeIsBack

Tourism came up today in the Melbourne/Sydney thread. It happened to be a subject covered in the Age today too. It was a negative article about tourism. (Yes! - the Australian press is quite capable of levelling criticism - in a Melbourne-based paper anyhow.)

http://www.theage.com.au/travel/blog...802-1125p.html

Read the comments in the blog which are interesting. Amongst other things:

Locals/Australians say:
i) Australia is overpriced - reference holidaying - [to say nothing of prices elswhere].
ii) Think that Australian tourism is marketing itself wrongly - serving up old hackneyed ideas to a global audience.
iii) That many would rather go overseas.

Interesting that Australians are complaining. It's not just a British thing. And that as someone points out, that Australia is a bit stuck - because if it markets itself as one sort of destination then it can't compete with N America, say, when N America is closer to some of its target audience. It almost has to continue with the tired old 'shrimp on the barbie' because that is what it can still compete on..an edge? - not really.

Discuss.

mark1963

I was in Canada Skiing earlier this year, i was surprised at the ammount of Aussies over there, especially the ones moaning about how dear it was to ski in Aus, and how it was cheaper to fly to Canada for Skiinig.

Now thats a sign of the times !!

ABCDiamond

Making hay while the A$ is at its current value. Overseas holidays are cheap.

But tourists coming here now don't get as much as they used to for their own currency.

Centurion

I vacation overseas. Its cheaper and frankly better in terms of accommodations, service and things to do.

Noosa or Thailand. hum....

Centurion

Frankly I'm surprised if any UK resident would be that stupid to come and holiday here given the exchange rate at present. The same for the US.

BadgeIsBack

The article mentioned Australian ski-passes being expensive - (if not the article - a blog entry).

I've met Aussies all over the world, working and travelling. They really do crop up everywhere - from London merchant banks, Frankfurt, Luxembourg and South America. To be honest, anyone who thinks that Australians don't travel is probably the same victim of demographics and is in the same boat as the people they themselves are criticising - either by association or from the same mould(!)

BadgeIsBack

No surprise to me!

The article mentioned Australian ski-passes as being one of the most expensive in the world (if not the article - a blog entry).

I've met Aussies all over the world, working and travelling. They really do crop up everywhere - from London merchant banks, Frankfurt, Luxembourg and South America. To be honest, anyone who thinks that Australians don't travel is probably the same victim of demographics and is in the same boat as the people they themselves are criticising - either by association or from the same mould(!)

BadgeIsBack

Got it in one. It said I think that people come to Australia as a once-off - and young people come for awhile and then that's it. I think some people genuinely want to see for themselves.

It mentioned that a lot of Asians are not interested in sea and sand and would rather mooch around in a city.

fish.01

Despite the valid points...I reckon a disproportionate amount of these sort of article comments are left by 26yo white males who love to write trash about where they live just before they jet off to live overseas for 2 years...makes em feel important

GarryP

My surprise has always been that Australia doesn't really market itself as a winter sun destination. Sure its implicit, but you would have thought the one strong point it has of hot sunny weather in the winter, that still speaks English, would have been emphasised more.

Yes Australia is overpriced currently, with the increased interest rates hitting the exchange rate. Its what comes of being out of step with the rest of the world being in the dumpster. Cutting interest rates and finding otherways to prick the housing bubble would be a smart move - if you could find a smart politician to do it....

BadgeIsBack

Gen Y....Yes - the thought did occur to me this morning. But it shows that people do trash Australia.

Some of these even seem like British Expats even down to the usernames!

asprilla

It is a great winter sun destination... but it's too far to travel ! That's the main reason why people don't come here in droves.

Australia is overpriced at the moment. But if you step back in time just 10years, Australia was a bargain... and I recall friends of mine returning from their backpacking around Oz telling me how cheap everything was (particularly the beer). Exchange rates are part of it, but not the whole story.

Amazulu

Agree, Germany and Austria - with wage and social security costs off the scale - were half the price of Australia for most things. Exchange rates are part of the issue but it was a real eye-opener.

MartinLuther

The media has been knocking the Tourism Australia's approach for quite a while now. The main point is that they are still trying to attract people with variants on "Throw another shrimp on the barbie" which worked back then as Aus was relatively unvisited by Americans but is now offering them nothing new.

Tourism Victoria has been more successful with their "Pieces of Victoria" which lacking a few icons has moved more to promoting experiences.

It's a shame that after the "Where the bloody hell are you?" campaign flopped they just came out with exactly the same thing rebadged "Nothing like Australia".

iamthecreaturefromuranus

Perhaps if they promoted the REAL Australia they might get somewhere...a cheap night at the RSL where you get to meet real Aussies, spend all your money on cheap booze and the pokies, get kicked out and can't find your way back to your room so you pass out in a park and wake up to a beaut Aussie morning and realize you're only a few minutes away from a Maccas for breakfast. Also I've noticed lots of backpackers queuing up for a cheap feed at the local Vinnies in the mornings - even cheaper than Maccas and if you don't have any cash or have lost your wallet then it's free. We need to promote the life the average Aussie leads and stop pretending we are sophisticated because we aren't and never will be.