Agritourism meets the needs of the “Experience Seeker” market

The following excerpts from Tourism Australia demonstrate the new and emerging markets that agritourism can appeal to -:

AUSTRALIAN EXPERIENCE SEEKERS

The domestic travel market provides the greatest contribution to the Australian tourism industry, injecting $58 billion into the economy in 2007 AND accounting for 79 PER CENT of total tourism spend in Australia.

The Challenge

Despite recent increases in the number of trips taken and the amount spent on domestic holidays, overall the domestic tourism market has been in decline over the last nine years. In recent years, Australian households’ expenditure on holidays has increased in line with continued growth in consumer spending. However, Australians are stockpiling their annual leave entitlements with the current balance of full time employees estimated to be 120 million days. The biggest challenge is Australians perceive Australian holidays asbeing safe, predictable and known, with experiences that lack the challenge and diversity of overseas destinations. Australia is also seen as being expensive compared to many overseas destinations. These factors, combined with a strong Australian dollar and low cost carriers expanding their international flights, continue to influence the travel preferences and intentions of Australians, and lead to many opting for overseas holidays.

Profile of the Australian Experience Seeker Tourism Australia has identified the Australian Experience

Seeker as our primary target group of Australian travellers. These are travellers who have a preference for both interstate and overseas travel and who spent more than $2,000 on their last holiday. Looking at the average trip cost per person, Australian Experience Seekers spent $3,505 on their last holiday, three and a half times more than the average Australian.

What to do

Research suggests that to effectively engage Australian Experience Seekers, we need to reassess our ‘holiday products’ and the experiences on offer. Feedback indicates that with the right offering, the best of Australia can compete with overseas options. Tourism Australia research shows that some of the most isolated and expensive destinations presented to Australian Experience Seekers provide a compelling appeal and diverse range of experiences. Therefore, remote experiences don’t always equate to ‘too hard’. When travelling, Australian Experience Seekers often want to visit more than one destination, so the most popular holidays include a variety of experiences rather than a stand-alone destination. More information Need more information about how to make your product more appealing to your fellow Australian travellers?

Email the Consumer and Market Insights Team on consumerandmarketinsights@tourism.australia.com.
www.tourism.australia.com/research

Handy hint

Tips for enticing the Experience Seeker

1. Maximise your location. Think about the experiences you have in your backyard and promote them in your brochures and marketing materials e.g. spectacular views and scenery, historic buildings, heritage trails, World Heritage listed areas, bushwalks, regional produce markets, wineries, restaurants etc.

2. Think of your ‘competitors’ as your allies. Provide your customers with tips on other attractions and things to do in your local area. E.g. if you’re an accommodation provider, give your customers details about local tours, attractions, cafes and restaurants, wineries, Aboriginal art galleries, walks etc in your local areas.

3. Keep your product offering fresh and always highlight new aspects and unique experiences in your promotional materials.

4. Provide visitors with the opportunity to become involved in various aspects of your business or advise them of activities that are available near you. E.g. For a farm stay, you could offer customers the opportunity to shear a sheep or muster cattle; for a winery, you could give customers a chance to mix their own blends; a bed and breakfast owner could offer customers the chance to learn how to make home-made food from local produce such as jams and breads.

5. Remember, the key is to offer immersive, interactive, active and adventurous experiences.

6. Provide an opportunity for your customers to meet and engage with the locals.

7. Create a ‘braggability’ factor to generate word-of-mouth business.

8. Provide customers with easy access to activities that will allow them to engage with the people and immerse themselves in the lifestyle and the environment.

9. Highlight the unique selling point of your product. Perhaps there’s something so unique about your product that it cannot be experienced anywhere else in the world. If so, promote it!

10. Make sure the language you use in your promotional materials such as brochures, websites and media materials reflect and sell the overall experiences, not just a product.’

Tourism Australia Online Marketing

Read Tourism Australia’s website for futher details on this market.

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