Australia state expands int'l marketing campaigns to reignite tourism industry

SYDNEY, July 27 (Xinhua) -- The Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) is facilitating its overseas marketing activities, with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with Singapore Airlines on Tuesday.

Destination NSW, the state government's tourism and major events agency, will collaborate with Singapore Airlines on initiatives, including advertising, marketing campaigns and familiarisation programs, to drive visitation to NSW.

The state government said the agreement, which was sealed through the state's Aviation Attraction Fund, will also facilitate marketing activities across other countries, such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Britain, Germany and France, to stimulate demand and drive visitation to NSW.

The funding, worth of 60 million Australian dollars (42 million U.S. dollars), forms part of the NSW government's COVID-19 economic recovery plan. It aims to build aviation capacity across NSW by supporting more airlines to return to the state's airports.

NSW Minister for Investment and Trade, Tourism and Sport Stuart Ayres said the initiative was critical to reigniting the NSW visitor economy to pre-pandemic levels.

"Our airports are the gateway to our state, so supporting the return of airlines to them through the Aviation Attraction Fund is key to achieving our goal of NSW being the premier visitor economy of the Asia-Pacific," Ayres said.

Singapore Airlines is currently operating four daily flights to Sydney, which is estimated to deliver over 231 million Australian dollars (161 million U.S. dollars) in visitor expenditure to NSW up until July 2023 and support more than 1,200 jobs.