Ep 187: Behind the Scenes of Australia’s Tourism Transformation Plan, with Samantha Palmer, AusTrade

Australia counts one of Asia Pacific’s most fascinating visitor economies. It combines vibrant inbound, outbound and domestic leisure and business travel segments with large international education, VFR and working holiday components. One in 7 businesses in Australia is related to tourism. So, how is Australia recovering from Covid-19, and how is it planning ahead for the rest of the decade, and beyond?

This week, Gary and Hannah welcome Samantha Palmer, General Manager of Visitor Economy and Client Programs, at the Australian Trade & Investment Commission (AusTrade), to discuss the Thrive 2030 tourism strategy. Sam talks about the International Diversification Strategy for the Visitor Economy, which sets new benchmarks and targets for Australia’s 15 key inbound markets and fast-growing emerging markets.

We also discuss the importance of travellers from China and South East Asia, and the unfolding opportunities and challenge in this complex new travel era. Plus, Sam outlines the high degree of detailed research and industry collaboration underpinning Australia’s goal of achieving a full visitor economy recovery by 2025 - and building new resilience for the future.