‘We moved our targeting focus from demographic to psychographic’

Come December and January, and the global sporting action – cricket, tennis tournament, Australian Open, Australian Grand Prix - moves Down Under. For most Indians, the focus is cricket and the ongoing Border–Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) – an International Test cricket trophy played between India and Australia – named after the legendary former captains Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar. Another key trend is traveling to attend music concert be it Coldplay, Taylor Swift, AP Dhillion or even the home-grown talents such as Diljit Dosanjh or Arijit Singh.

Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager - India and Gulf, Tourism Australia says, “A key travel trend is the phenomenon called ‘event globetrotting’ where Indians are traveling for cultural, social and entertainment gatherings irrespective of where these events are held. We’ve tried to capitalize on these opportunities by showcasing Australia as a long-haul holiday destination. Through our various media initiatives, PR activations, we are trying to build awareness of Australia and these events help us drive visitation for the event and beyond events too.”

Looking at numbers, as per Cricket Australia almost 10,000 Indians globally have booked to travel for the ongoing Border–Gavaskar Trophy. The number of tickets sold out of India has seen almost a 5X increase as compared to the 2018-2019 series. Kashikar says, “There’s been a significant surge in Indian visitors traveling to Australia for the BGT series. Overall, India has been one of the fastest growing markets for Tourism Australia. We are already at almost 108% of our pre-covid levels with a record 430,000 visitors. While arrivals have gone up by 8%, spend has increased by 29% to reach 2.3 billion dollars, and an average Indian spends close to almost $6,000 on an Australian holiday, which is highest, if not highest, at par with what a global traveler spends in Australia. Most importantly, India has also significantly improved its ranking from being the 7th largest destination in 2019 to become the 5th largest destination in 2024. All the initiatives and marketing programs undertaken by Tourism Australia, have contributed to this growth.”