Wed 4 August

Oz holidays too expensive?

: Just one reason why Richard Branson loves Australia.

by Mat Churchill

In recent days both pollies vying for the job of PM have budgeted millions of dollars to Australia's struggling tourism industry.

Last week Julia Gillard announced tourism funding of $46 million. In Cairns, Tony Abbott trumped that by promising $90 million (and adding it's "not a huge amount of money").

Leichhardt is a marginal seat, and one in which the success or failure of tourism campaigns affects a massive proportion of its population.

At The Newsport we've covered, and asked you to comment on many of the campaigns that affect your lives. And it seems Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines fame hasn't shied away from airing his views either.

"Australia's the country I most enjoy visiting," he said in an interview with Business Spectator. “You name it, Australia has it. So if they want to use me to plug Australia, I'd be delighted to do so because I can't think of another country I'd rather visit.

“I arrived in Australia yesterday, I'm going back home tomorrow and I'm going to be back here in two weeks' time and that's 24-hour journeys both times. So I'm sold and I think Australia's a very, very easy sell. I'm surprised that the advertising people can't get the message across.”

And it's not just Knights of the Realm that seem underwhelmed by our tourism achievements.

The Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organisation, Taleb Rifai said "Australia has lived for a long time . . . happy with its isolation. That's not going to work any more."

A blog on The Age drew many contributions, most of which blamed Australia's hefty holiday price tag and generally poor service for its drop in visitors.

One blogger wrote "Australia is the best place in the world, but we're not THAT much better that people are willing to spend triple as much to enjoy her fruits."

And another: "Yep...with very few exceptions, holidaying in Oz is expensive and offers very poor levels of service. Much much cheaper to fly to Thailand or Indonesia and live it up in luxury resorts with private pools, etc, than get a shabby room here.

So let's put the spotlight on Port Douglas.

What do you think of our affordability on the world stage? And does the service offered here hit the mark, or leave a lot to be desired?

Have your say !

paul , 22-01-12 11:04:

Too expensive and too wet. We won't be coming back to NQ.

Gazza Tee, 05-08-10 02:17:

Port Douglas has it all. The only trouble is the difficulty in getting to Port and the cost of getting there from overseas. From the UK it's a 24 hour flight in via Singapore to Darwin or Brissie and about the same via Korea to Brissie. But the expense doesn't stop there, you now have to fund the internal flight from Darwin or Brisbane to Cairns. This can be almost a fifth of the price of an international return flight and with taxes etc, seasonal surcharges and luggage costs, the extra can swing from "okay I can bear that" to " No way!".

It would be so much convenient and cheaper for the international traveller to get international flights from the UK / Europe directly into Cairns. But the internal flight providers would stand to lose the most and as there are only two operators Virgin and Jet Star (linked to Quantas if I am not mistaken), they are not going to score an own goal by routing their international flights direct into Cairns and losing that revenue.

If the Australian government is serious about making tourism more attractive, then break the monopolies that the airlines have on international and domestic services. Open up Cairns wider to long-haul traffic and start to see the benefit this will bring to NQL.

For me to make a return to Port, current air travel costs are in the region of £1600 GBP (approx Aus$ 3,200) return (standard passenger) per person. That is a big barrier for most and despite Australia undoubtedly having the best of all things to offer tourists, that sort of money can buy you three weeks in a 4 star villa in Turkey. So unless you want (or need) to travel to Port (like me), it's a no brainer - Turkey is nearer!

I'm saving like mad at the moment to accumulate the £1600. So please next Aussie PM, don't up the taxes on air flights like Cameron has in the UK! Give us a break!!!

Gazza