Tourism
Australia and Emirates have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) to spend up to A$14.3 million over the next three years on a
range of joint marketing activities.
These
activities will focus on some of Australia’s leading inbound
visitor markets - the United Kingdom, Germany and New Zealand, as
well as France and Italy.
The
arrangement will feature joint marketing on traditional and digital
media platforms as well as event and sponsorship activities.
Tourism
Australia Managing Director Andrew McEvoy said Emirates has
demonstrated a strong and growing commitment to the Australian market
since it first started flying to country in 1996 and has been one of
its most committed marketing partners.
“Both
parties have agreed there is now a need for a more strategic, longer
term agreement to more effectively market Australia to Emirates’
extensive global customer base, in particular throughout Europe
where the
airline is
so well established," he said.
Mr
McEvoy welcomed recently announced developments by Emirates which he
believes will further improve inbound aviation access and capacity to
Australia - pointing to Emirates’ proposed commercial tie up with
Qantas and the further expansion of its Australian network through a
new direct service to Adelaide from 1 November 2012 and increased
flying to Perth from December 2012.
“Emirates’
AUS$14.3 million partnership with Tourism Australia takes the
airline’s investment in ‘destination Australia’ to the next
level. This is the largest investment Emirates has ever made with a
global tourism body, highlighting our commitment to Tourism
Australia’s strategy for attracting global travellers,” said
Andrew Parker, Emirates’ Senior Vice President, Public,
International, Industry and
Environmental Affairs.
“Emirates
has carried more than 16 million passengers to and from Australia
since 1996 and today we enable travellers from more than 30 European
locations to travel
to Australia via
one stop in Dubai, offering passengers from all corners of the
continent the chance to enjoy the many and varied attractions down
under,” continued Mr Parker.
Emirates
currently operate 70 flights per week to Australia via its Dubai hub:
21 services to Sydney; 21 to Melbourne; 14 to Brisbane; and 14 to
Perth. This is planned to grow to 84 weekly by early 2013.
The
airline also continues to increase capacity by deploying larger
aircraft on existing Australian services, including
the introduction of
daily A380 services to Melbourne increasing capacity on the route by
38 per cent.