SIA and Tourism Australia ink three-year, A$12 million marketing agreement

SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) and Tourism Australia are strengthening their existing partnership with a new, three-year marketing deal worth A$12 million (S$13.4 million).

Under the agreement, the two parties will jointly fund tourism capaigns and promotional activities in seven major inbound markets. These are Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, China as well as Germany and the UK.

As such, SIA will be the exclusive airline partner for all Restaurant Australia capaigns in Singapore, India, Indonesia and Malaysia, in addition to providing international flights for a Tourism Australia key trade event in Adelaide next year.

"Combining Tourism Australia's marketing prowess with SIA's network reach remains a winning proposition in key target markets to bring travellers to Australia," said Mak Swee Wah, SIA's executive vice-president (commercial). "Leveraging the opportunities presented across Europe and Asia in partnership with Tourism Australia enables us to reach better conversion rates and cement Singapore's status as the optimal gateway hub to Australia."

Besides New Zealand, Singapore is the most connected city to Australia and has become one of its key inbound tourism markets. It currently is Australia's fifth largest source market for international tourists, with visitors from the city-state spending A$1.1 billion last year. It is estimated this could grow to A$2.3 billion-A$2.8 billion by 2020. There were 368,400 visitors from Singapore for the year ended Sept 30, up 14.4 per cent.

"Asia continues to be a powerhouse for Australian tourism," stressed Tourism Australia managing director John O'Sullivan.