Tourism Australia, the agency responsible for attracting international visitors to the country, is working to boost tourism from key markets worldwide.

The organization’s “Come and Say G’day” campaign was unveiled in October 2022 in New York and has since been rolled out to all 15 priority markets around the world, most recently launching in China and Hong Kong. The campaign seeks to encourage the return of leisure travelers and is helping to push international arrival numbers higher.

“International inbound aviation seat capacity has recovered to more than 90% of pre-pandemic levels in October 2023 and we expect to see approximately 100% of seats restored within the next six months,”  Andrew Hogg, Tourism Australia’s executive general manager, eastern markets and aviation, said.

Hogg explained that the organization has moved from a recovery phase to one of growth given that inbound seat capacity levels are likely to surpass 2019 figures early next year. Australia has already benefited from a series of new routes and new carriers entering the market, including United Airlines and Vietjet.

Over the next decade, Tourism Australia sees the potential for 10 new routes to destinations in China and Australia; six to 10 between to the US; and five to both India and Indonesia. Hogg said sufficient travel demand already exists “for many of the unserved routes to start operating tomorrow.”

At Routes World 2023, Hogg added that the agency’s goal will be to demonstrate to airlines that Tourism Australia can help them to facilitate their entry or grow service to Australia.

“Our airports work incredibly hard on tailoring competitive commercial packages for the airlines and our Australia state and territory governments also provide attractive incentives to build and grow aviation access to specific destinations,” he said.