Andrew McEvoy owner and founder of We Connect China, a business designed to help Chinese companies be successful in Australia, while also helping Australian companies find a consumer audience in mainland China, believes capacity growth in Adelaide can be sustained by tapping into key inbound tourist markets such as China.
The Blue Swan Daily recently caught up with Mr McEvoy, former Managing Director of Tourism Australia, who stated South Australians are good at using the capacity available to them which they need to "use it or lose it". "Where there is some work to be done, is the other side of the equation, that is inbound capacity," continues Mr McEvoy.
There is an opportunity for Adelaide to tap into the lucrative Chinese market by differentiating itself from the rest of Australia. Mr McEvoy said: "70% of Australia's wine is produced in South Australia…the wildlife and natural wonders such as Kangaroo Island, the wine country, the Adelaide Hills, and the Barossa are all great assets the South Australia market has and I think they can do very well in that market".
Mr McEvoy also explored a second opportunity for South Australia which includes tapping into those travellers already visiting Australia.
"The second opportunity is the open jaw one where passengers from other parts the world flying into Sydney, Melbourne or even Perth at least include three or four days into their itinerary in South Australia and then fly directly out of Adelaide on the carriers servicing the area".
Mr McEvoy will be part of a key panel at the 2017 Adelaide Aviation & Corporate Travel Summit on 01-Sep-2017. The panel is titled: How the Adelaide market has boomed, but can the capacity increases be maintained?
Key topics:
- How are the new entrants performing?
- Beyond the new Gulf and Asia services, what are ADL's missing links? Are China and the rest of Asia served adequately?
- Does ADL suffer from competition with Eastern States for attention/capacity/sales focus?
- The importance of tourism/leisure interest to demand for corporate travel.
Moderator: CAPA - Centre for Aviation, Executive Chairman, Peter Harbison
Members:
- We Connect China, Managing Director, Andrew McEvoy
- Adelaide Airport, Head of Aviation Business Development, Jonathan Cheong
- Malaysia Airlines, Corporate Sales Manager Australia & New Zealand, Mark Mulville
To witness this panel live register now at centreforaviation.com/events.