Emerging Tourist Demographics and Sentiments
The Destination Australia 2022 conference has provided insights on new demographics & tourist sentiments which, to be honest, have been comforting, imagining there may actually be a way forward into a sense of normality. As Australia seems to fit the bill of what international travellers seem to want to travel to. The undercurrent today was that all countries are still in the same boat as us, tourism-wise – experiencing big losses of visitation still. Though here in Australia we have a unique difference – we have an exotic flavour, whether it’s our amazing animals, our native bushfoods, or our agricultural & land-based experiences, in exquisite landscapes. And if we can support ourselves culturally and promote our authentic friendly communities, we can showcase ourselves on the world stage, inviting all to our safe welcoming country.
I’m not going to lie, I was unsure whether my virtual ticket to the 2022 Destination Australia conference was going to get any use today, with so much going on. My regional accommodation property in the outskirts of Byron Bay is currently housing hinterland refugees, fellow tourism operators displaced by the floods, a sodden rainforest respite surrounded by retreating waters & mud, & scarce essential supplies.
My other regional tourism property is in France … Covid has halted a good part of business over there too until now. Throw Ukraine into the mix with uncertainty about travel to and through Europe in the coming weeks/months. Some of our beloved tradespeople and colleagues over there have strong family ties to the wartorn region, & are starting to arrange housing for refugees coming in, instead of setting up for what should be the beginning of the tourism season as of Easter.
Though sometimes it’s best to take a step back and look at today, what can we learn, and what can we share. One thing I do well as an experiential tourism academic is to be able to take notes swiftly, turn them into insights, add a little of my own business experience and get these out onto our channels here at ART as practical applications, whilst we all wonder in the back of our minds … what’s going to happen next?
Below are the main takeaways from the 2022 Destination Australia panel sessions and keynote speakers, and some of my own suggested applications into regional tourism operations.
Which Nationalities are looking to travel to Australia soon?
There’s been a change in perspective of customer decision making around destinations, since the pandemic has quietened down a little and borders are opening up. Australia seems to be a good choice, especially for North American travellers – Australia is off the ‘one day’ bucketlist … they are planning to commit and do it soon, travel down under.
The nation showing the highest consumer interest of taking an international flight for leisure though is India, at 55% (Deloitte). The UK is also relatively high, for family travel reasons. On the other hand, Japan remains a cautious travel market outbound from Japan – Tourism Australia’s market research team predicts it will commence rebounding slowly in 4-6 months.
Digital Nomads
The Digital Nomad traveller group is a new customer segment identified by Tourism Australia. The ‘work anywhere’ person is an emerging and consistent trend of traveller, as workforce flexibility leads to more travel & longer trips. Regional tourism operators can think of ways to show how they can accommodate working travellers – quiet spaces, tech access etc.
Booking Policies
Last minute bookings will remain as the predominant booking habit, and will do for a while yet. Operators still need to be flexible whilst visitors test their travel patience limits; they are still wary of borders, and extreme weather events rolling on in with little warning.
Agri-stays
Good news for regional tourism operators – the AirBnB panel speaking at Destination Australia panel stated there has been a 34% increase in farmstay holiday interest, ie. not looking so much at traditional hotel-style accommodation any longer. Immersions in low key farm-style activities is on the rise, feeding animals is a huge new trend – local fields, llamas etc. And buying from self- serve roadside stalls or farm doors.
Sustainability as a driver from traveller sentiment
Tourism has a prime opportunity to re-educate visors into their own strategic planning of carbon level impact & beyond, via their leisure and tourism desires.
Sustainability is a growing consideration for customers when they choose holidays. They’ve moved past just thinking about the carbon footprint – their values extending into all areas of the travel experience – the destination environment & local community, which gives a reciprocal community support for tourism & experiences collaborated together between the host community and traveller community.
Intrepid Travel on a panel session relayed that 54% of their customers Prior to the pandemic were Australian, though as outbound travellers. So when the borders closed, they had to convert and create domestic products very quickly – experiences with Impact into communities & sustainable themed tours. As Australia opens up to the world – inbound travellers are absolutely looking for these types of experience also.
Sustainability as a driver from tourism operator sentiment, coming from resilience
Tourism is & will be a very resilient industry especially in Australia because of our country – each city is different, -each environment is different – our communities and culture of origin is different. What we’ve faced over the past 2-3 years is physical effects of climate change and the pandemic, and the increase of digitisation of our industry .. being regional tourism operators we have all had to learn how to adapt.
Wellness Travel – it doesn’t have to be all about yoga mats
By looking after ourselves, we’re looking after country, this is also reflected by the First Nations People.
Connecting with nature, connecting with community. Wellness travel is more important than ever – especially after being cooped up whether by covid & iso, or drenching wet weather, or extreme heat under the aircon.
How can businesses enter the wellness tourism space? By looking after your own team first, their personal wellness interests, then connecting that to the local environs – both in the physical environment & community environment. And then create a Welcome Guide around this for travellers to read in story form.
Accessible Tourism, it starts with the small things
Consider every small part of your business
- putting large print on a menu
- a handle on a communal toilet wall.
- incorporate accessibility into local free experiences by suggesting wheelchair & pram friendly accessible itineraries
- promote this as a trigenenerational opportunity for families of all ages & mobilities to enjoy together and create memories.
The Youth market
Think naturebased and FUN! Through a connection to their own identity. They need to be able to get it all, and document it onto social media. What products can you package together to get the backpacker and millennial groups to you?
And then there’s the even younger, who have access to social media – the more you get kids to want to go somewhere – the more you’ll get the high value traveller families who feel they need to invest in their children’s wholesome experiences and geographic knowledge.
Looking for Experiences on Airbnb
AirBnB’s analytics have noticed a stark difference in behaviours – there is a shift where people aren’t looking for specific dates of their own choosing, or exact places for accomodation any longer, they are browsing for experiences that would fit in with their desires, then they work to fit in their accomodation & travel etc around these experience’s dates.
Indigenous Heritage
Tourism Australia is bringing First Nations place names into their current marketing content, and future destination marketing. Though why stop at this? Let’s put Language (indigenous) into everyday terms onsite in accommodations & tours, and into everyday flavours of the culinary offerings in regional destinations. There are so many cues we can put in place to authenticate and deepen our tourism offering to the rest of the world.
The above is a snapshot of Destination Australia’s insights from today; there’s areas to be taken onboard to align with what regional tourism operators need moving forward in reimagining tourism, and what we can do collectively to welcome tourists to their farmgates, AirBnB’s, lobbies, cellar doors, tourgroup, retail, hospitality & attraction entrances.
References:
Deloitte. Global State of the Consumer Tracker:
Tourism Australia. Destination Australia Conference Proceedings 2022:
Katrina Denoux is one of the Ambassadors for Australian Regional Tourism. A tourism practitioner with her own business based both in Europe and Australia, she is also a registered health practitioner with postgraduate qualifications. She specialises in wellness, culinary & sustainability experience economies in tourism; and is a lecturer and speaker on the international academic insights circuit. She feels lucky to be able to combine her two loves: travel & education.