Tourism Australia welcomes V Australia
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The announcement by V Australia Chairman Sir Richard Branson heralds a new era in which Australia’s vast tourism potential in the US market may finally be realised, Tourism Australia Managing Director Geoff Buckley has said.
“For close on 20 years Australia has been Americans’ dream holiday destination,” Buckley said. “And while the US is our fourth largest tourism market, it still has enormous untapped potential.
“The launch of V Australia, which will likely bring new, low priced air capacity onto the trans-Pacific route will enable more Americans than ever to make their dream of Australia a reality.
He said while air capacity on the route had been growing steadily over recent years load factors were around 80%, meaning individual travellers and groups were limited by the availability of seats on the days they need to travel, and the price of seats available to them.
“While recent years have seen Qantas lift its capacity on the route significantly, and introduce direct services between Los Angeles and Brisbane and Melbourne, the popularity of these services has simply served to highlight the extraordinary opportunities which have been missed by other airlines,” Buckley said.
Over the two years 2008 and 2009 Tourism Australia expects an additional increase of 23%, with 15% of that growth delivered by V Australia.
The US is one of Australia’s top sources of international tourists delivering 460,000 American visitors in 2007, worth A$2.08 billion.
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