TA’s International Brand Health Monitor (March 2010) surveyed young travellers aged 18 to 29 in China, Singapore, the UK, US and New Zealand, with a typical sample size of 1500 per market.

It found 18 to 29 year olds generally have a lower awareness of communications relating to Australia than the population overall, but those who do come are likely to do so again, with potential visitation significantly higher among previous visitors.

However, while those who do plan to visit have higher incomes than those who don’t, they also have a broader set of competitive destinations vying for their attention.

Tourism Australia concludes more work is needed to educate the youth market on what Australia offers, with a particular focus on building its reputation as a nature destination.

To view the youth report, click here.

In just over four months since opening, Sydney Harbour YHA has hosted 10,000 people from more than 60 countries with an average length of stay close to three nights.

The lucky 10,000th guest, Elizabeth Austin from the USA, got a free night’s accommodation, a bottle of bubbly and a certificate.

Ross sold his share in the Airlie Beach Resort to his long-term business partner, who has also taken sole ownership of hostels in Noosa and Hervey Bay as well as Koala’s Fraser Island 4WD product. Nomads World Hotels recently bought the leases for the two hostels and acquired operational and marketing responsibilities for Fraser. Ross retains the Koala brand and intellectual property following the asset split as well as 150 acres of Daintree beachfront and 52 units in Cairns.

He has been having a series of meetings with key partners in Sydney this week along with former TNT UK sales director Justin Williams – now based in the US – who is consulting for the business.

Ross said: “The deal means I can drive a lot more opportunities, I’ve got no debt, I’m cashed up and I have a clear direction. I may look at floating and I can still see myself acquiring businesses down the track.”

He said meetings this week had been aimed at improving the company’s distribution network and forging relationships.

He added: “It’s not rocket science to see we’ve been all over the place for the last 12 months, now you’ll see massive changes. I am free now to focus on developing the business. I am also very grateful and thankful to the industry for sticking by me throughout this difficult period.”

For years, many Australian travellers have viewed Asia as predominantly a ‘fly and flop’ destination, but no more. The region is sneaking up on the heels of Australian destinations targeting domestic travellers, with value-based offerings around sightseeing, adventure and immersive or transformational experiences.  

Australian operators are encountering the challenge of a shift in their competitive set.  Traditionally, domestic operators contended with other domestic destinations (or other goods being purchased instead of domestic holidays), and increasingly New Zealand.  Our deep-dive study into the Australian domestic tourism market, Domesticate™, revealed a dramatic increase in the competitiveness of south-east asian destinations.

One research participant commented that they could get a three-week trip to Cambodia and Thailand for the same cost as a weekend in Sydney for a festival.  This coupled with increased capacity on routes, competitive air fares, favourable exchange rates and an extremely low in-market spend has strengthened rational justifications for SE Asia travel.

But we all know there is more to holidays than the lowest price (even though this is not immediately apparent by the way we compete with price-based offers). Emotion is the most compelling driver for holidays – reconnection with loved ones, relaxation, transformation and immersion are what we seek.

SE Asia is moving into this space as well, having augmented their traditional low-energy, affiliative, fly and flop offers with offers that meet travellers’ experiential needs – offering adventure, learning and challenges. This is in line with how some of these destinations have been marketed (eg Malaysia Truly Asia and Amazing Thailand), and is a reflection of the success of those campaigns. By meeting these more experiential needs, a higher emotional value is placed upon holidays to these destinations.

To stave off this challenge, it will be important to identify which elements of the Australian offer can really engage consumers. In part, the task is to raise our ‘emotional’ market share in the eyes of the consumer.

I will discuss how we do this and touch on why Australians aren’t using their annual leave and the decline of customer loyalty in travel at the upcoming press launch of Domesticate, to be held in Sydney on Tuesday March 16.  If you’d like to attend, please request an invite from tnscommunications.au@tns-global.com.

Carolyn Childs is Director of TNS’ dedicated Tourism and Leisure research division and contributes a regular column to Thumbrella. You can follow Carolyn on TNS’ blog, Sixth Sense (sixthsenseinsights.com.au), or on twitter @tns_aus.

The zone, which featured several of Greyhound’s adventure partners in kiosks around a central stand, won the best stand award in Melbourne.

Greyhound Australia VP sales Kevin Lyons said: “The Melbourne Adventure Travel and Backpackers Expo proved to be very encouraging. There was a very good attendance but, more importantly, they were genuine travellers hungry for information and ready to book.”

Adventure Travel and Backpackers Expo managing director Andrew Paltridge said he plans to grow the concept and add to the expo’s atmosphere: “Part of our marketing going forward will be getting a few backpackers on to Greyhound’s adventures products in the weeks leading up to the expo and getting them to blog about it to their friends and our community. Then we will get them into the expo to chat to other backpackers and hopefully give even more exposure (and sales) to those companies in the zone.”

He added: “Another goal is to give smaller operators their own presence and identity at the expos. Sometimes being one of 15 or so companies on a backpacker association stand means you get lost.”

More details will be released soon, including discounts for early bookings and booking both expos.

For the year ending December 31 2009, 570,000 backpackers visited Australia which was an increase of 11,000 year on year. New South Wales was the most visited with 78 per cent of backpackers though Queensland retained its lead for bed nights with 32 per cent share. New South Wales edged closer to its east coast rival however, increasing its bed nights year on year by 1,683, a 31 per cent share.

Backpackers in the country also spent more than the previous year with average spend increasing by $475 to $6,114 bringing the total economic value of the sector to approximately $3.5 billion.

Source market numbers were mixed with New Zealand and Korea both seeing a decline in visitors to Australia while the USA, UK, Germany and France all experienced a slight increase.

Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) Backpacker Tourism Advisory Panel (BTAP) chairman Peter Ovenden said after a challenging 2009, he was cautiously optimistic about the coming  year.

“Backpackers stay longer and spend more than any other demographic, while working holiday visa holders who work in hospitality and tourism-related jobs fulfil an important role across all sectors of the tourism industry,” he said.

To download the full report, click here.

Many of the vehicles will be built by Apollo’s own manufacturing business, Talvor Motorhomes, in Australia and New Zealand.

A new Talvor Motorhomes factory will open in New Zealand from April 2010, with a projected 250 vehicles to be built for the company’s rental and retail divisions in the first 12 months of operation.

Apollo, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, includes backpacker brand Hippie Camper and budget brand Cheapa Campa.

CEO Luke Trouchet said: “Our investment will create increased capacity from our 23 rental locations in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA, as well as ensure an even more modern fleet of rental vehicles is enjoyed by our clients.”

Carolyn was a stand-out speaker at last year’s Adventure & Backpacker Industry Conference and is a regular contributor to Thumbrella.

Dubbed Sixth Sense, blog users can sign up for regular newsletters on specific sectors including consumer, travel and leisure, finance and business, digital, technology and social research.

Global Gossip’s Jesse Desjardins, Kilroy Travel’s Emily Crome and YHA Australia’s Julie Freeman will be presenting on the night at Sydney Harbour YHA, which will be followed by a BBQ dinner on the hostel’s rooftop.

The event takes place on Tuesday March 23 at 5:15pm at a cost of $10. To download the registration form, click here.

Dittrich hopes to raise more than A$50,000 for Opportunity International Australia (OIA), a non-profit organisation that makes small loans available to people living in poverty. The loans help them establish or invest in a business so they can afford food, clean water, housing and education and benefit the local economy and community.

The 5,600km ride, which started in Sydney yesterday (March 8), is scheduled to finish in Perth on May 29.

Travellers Auto Barn managing director Peter Burke said: “We are proud to be involved with OIA and wish Geoff all the best with a massive journey ahead. OIA has been providing microfinance to help people lift themselves out of poverty for about 35 years, which is a remarkable achievement. Providing these loans, which are often tiny by our standards, gives so much more than a simple handout or traditional charitable donation. These loans give people something to work towards and restores the dignity and sense of ownership which is stripped away by poverty.”

Dittrich added: “OIA has used microfinance to provide a hand up rather than a hand out for more than one million people in poverty around the world, which is an amazing statistic for a local charity organisation. Our challenge is to raise A$50,000 for OIA, so they can continue to help the working poor. Travellers Auto Barn has been incredible in allowing us to reach the goals of our campaign. Not only is it giving us a home and a place to cook, entertain and relax, but the camper is also our support vehicle for emergencies.”

For more information, click here.

The Base Tourism Group handed over a giant cheque for $30,571 to the Red Cross on Friday after raising the funds at events at its hostel properties across Australia and New Zealand.

It’s a great story for a slow news day – foreigners ruining the environment, outraged local residents and ineffective council officials unable to stop the carnage.

Sadly, the benefits backpackers bring to the local economy and the fact BOA NSW is working with the relevant authorities to resolve the issue didn’t make it into the story – something I must take responsibility for as BOA’s media and communications representative.

Sometimes, though, you just have to sit back and applaud a public relations triumph when you see one – so congratulations must go to Backpacking Queensland chair Brett Claxton for managing his local media much better than I did last week.

Because far from carrying a knocking story, the Cairns Post followed up with an article stressing how welcome backpackers are in the region, despite the occasional “toilet-related mishap”.

The piece goes on to state: “Sydney residents and business owners were reportedly up in arms this week over budget travellers – mainly from Europe – making themselves at home on footpaths and allegedly using gutters as toilets. Many of the backpackers are forced to wait in Sydney until they can sell their vans, in order to pay for the next stage of their travel.”

But despite the fact travellers at the end of their east coast adventure can also be found camped along the Esplanade in Cairns, desperate to make a sale, the Post strikes an altogether more positive tone, with Claxton describing them as the “lifeblood of Queensland’s tourism industry”. He adds: “They do take the jobs that no one else wants to do and there’s always someone contributing to our economy in some way, so we welcome them here in Cairns for sure.”

Hats off to you Brett on a job well done.

The bunks were sold as single beds but could be purchased with a do-it-yourself kit to convert into a bunk bed. The company is only recalling those that have been converted and not those that have remained as single beds.

Out of the 2,000 bunks sold five customers have contacted Sleepmaker with concerns of welding breakages but no injuries have occurred.

A statement released to the industry last week said, “Sleepmaker takes matters of product quality very seriously. Accordingly, a thorough review of quality control practices is being completed to ensure that this incident does not occur again.”

Customer inquiries can be directed to Sleepmaker on 1800 835 228.

To view the full product recall notice click here.

YHA Ltd’s newest property in Sydney Harbour was featured on Channel Nine travel show Getaway last month.

At the end of February the Bligh Government introduced compulsory “Tag-along” tours for backpackers visiting Fraser Island; these changes to take effect June 30th 2010. This amendment however took place only a month after already advising hostels in the Rainbow Beach/Hervey Bay region that they would be able to continue their current operations with some slight amendments including reducing numbers (to 8 passengers) and no luggage on the roof.

Although the government website boasts that the move follows “lengthy consultation” with industry and has “broad industry support”, once again a government department has shown a complete lack of understanding of the lead times required by tourism businesses to implement major changes. Although it is true that hostel operators want greater safety, and do support the broader regulations, many leading operators such as Frasers on Rainbow Beach market their product interstate and overseas and set pricing a minimum of 12 months in advance. We simply cannot change our rates with four months notice.

I have calculated that in my business alone in Rainbow Beach these changes will cost me in the vicinity of $180,000 in lost revenue in the 2010 year, and estimate the industry as a whole may lose millions.

So what is the mid to long term benefit of these changes? In addition to increased safety I am hoping that the short term loss in revenue will lead to a more viable industry in the long term. From my experience however, the east coast backpacker market has demonstrated a poor record of setting realistic prices for their services. There is no doubt that these government regulations will eliminate those operators that are not willing or able to invest in their businesses and set their prices accordingly.

My HOPE is that hostels will now price their products at a viable level that allows them to re-invest into a quality operation. The current package pricing in the region foolishly encourages visitors to stay only 2 nights (1 pre night & 1 post) in their hostels and has nett rates set so low that nobody can legitimately claim good profit margins.

It is now time that the industry set some realistic commissions, whilst still allowing for wholesale vs retail sales. We need to encourage people to stay on the Fraser Coast and not just the island.

Frasers on Rainbow Beach will shortly release new packages incorporating other highlights of the region, including kayaking with dolphins, hand-feeding wild dolphins, and skydiving, in addition to the traditional Fraser/Whitsunday packages.