$6m marketing deal for Tourism Australia and Etihad

Source: Travel Daily

Tourism Australia and Etihad have just confirmed a new Memorandum of Understanding which will see them together invest $6 million marketing Australia over the next three years.

The alliance will target visitors from the Middle East, UK and Europe, with EY ceo James Hogan saying that Australia is strategically important to the carrier and contributes “significantly” to the Etihad bottom line.

“We not only have 16 per cent of our global seat capacity dedicated to the route, but also major investments in community assets like Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium,” he said.

Hogan added that Etihad and its partnerships with airberlin, Air France-KLM, Alitalia and Czech Airlines were tapping into Tourism Australia-created demand throughout Europe for business and leisure travel to Australia.

“On top of that, our partnership with Virgin Australia adds another powerful dimension to the marketing of Australian tourism,” he added.

TA md Andrew McEvoy said Etihad was clearly committed to Australia, feeding increasing numbers of passengers onto flights headed here via its Abu Dhabi hub, “particularly from Australia’s traditional high volume markets of the UK and Europe”.

He said that in line with continuing efforts to speak with ‘one voice’ in international marketing, Tourism Australia and Etihad would jointly seek involvement of the states and territories in future cooperative campaigns.

More information in today’s Travel Daily.