AUSTRALIA TARGETS INDIA AS NUMBER 1 TOURIST MARKET WITH HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED SPORTING EVENT

Tourism Australia is banking on the India-Pakistan cricket clash at the ICC T20 World Cup in Melbourne this October drawing visitors from India.

Australia is set to host the ICC T20 World Cup in October and November in Melbourne. This will feature the national cricket teams of India and Pakistan facing off in a much-anticipated event, which Tourism Australia anticipates will draw large amounts of visitors from India.

In May 2022, it was reported that the country was the second-biggest market for tourists in Australia, just behind New Zealand. Brent Anderson, regional general manager for Southeast Asia at Tourism Australia, predicts that there will be 400,000 visitors by June next year, which would match the same levels seen before Covid-19.

“With the closure of China, India has become more important. By 2030, [it] will be the No. 1 tourist market for us”, Anderson said.

Approximately 10,000 tourists from the country visited Australia during the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup. This number is predicted to rise to around 18,000 to 20,000 for the event later this year.

Optimism is boosted as the event will run alongside Diwali, as well as a break from schools. “It also coincides with the wedding and honeymoon season […] with Australia opening its borders for quarantine-free travel” noted Nishant Kashikar, country manager for India at Tourism Australia.