TENDER FOR TOURISM AUSTRALIA

 

 

Tourism Australia in Brazil – South America: 2016 – 2019

Plans & Strategies  

As you know, I’m Craig Bavinton. A sixth generation Australian from Melbourne, who has lived in Brazil for the past 21 years, I’ve travelled throughout Australia, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay and Peru and have a thorough understanding of the people and cultures of these countries. I’m fluent in written and spoken Portuguese and have a basic understanding of Spanish and Japanese.

I started the travel company Kangaroo Tours in Brazil, growing it from three staff to more than 50 over an 18-year period with four offices in three countries. I sold 100 per cent of my shareholdings in the company and its subsidiaries over a three-year period between April 2013 and April 2016. Today, I am no longer involved in any capacity in Kangaroo Tours or any other travel company in

Australia or South America – so there would be no conflict of interest in the current role.

Although references were supplied in my tender application, which are testimony to my efforts and success in promoting the company and Australia over many years, I have since received additional references or offers to be referees from the following diplomats, business people, and tourism officials: Tim Kane - the Australian Ambassador in Chile, Gerard Seeber - the Senior Trade Commissioner in Dubai for Austrade who spent six years in Brazil as the STC for South America, Trina Baker - partner in Spirit of Freedom live aboard dive cruises in Cairns, Irene Morgan - Destination NSW, Leigh Arrendondo - Tourism Queensland, who I also worked with on many projects while he was at Tourism Victoria; Cecilia Bustos – manager of Expand Travel in Chile, one of the top five sellers of Australia in Chile and Sherillyn Charles – DOSM Westin Langkawi, previously DOSM for Sheraton Four Points Sydney and Sheraton Mirage Port Douglas.

I have a registered company in Brazil (RGS Access) with a bank account in the same name and besides having a part time assistant who is very internet savvy and knows Australia personally, will also work in partnership with Sariri Terra Brazil. The director of Sariri Terra is Andrea Landaeta, a Chilean who spent two months in Australia in 2013 and loves the country. Based in Brazil, Andrea also has a deep knowledge of the travel trade throughout South America and is skilled at training travel professionals not only in Brazil but also in Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Peru. Andrea is well known and respected for her professionalism and dedication,  winning plaudits from wholesalers and agents for the high quality of her presentations and her continual follow-up, accessibility and desire to help with any information needed.  

 

A summary of objectives.

1. Grouping into Clusters: Identifying travel companies in Brazil (along with to a lesser extent, Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Peru) that are both already selling Australia or have the potential to promote/sell the destination. Placing these companies in cluster groups A, B and C as a reference to their potential and to signal the priorities for where degrees of resources would be most effectively allocated.

2. Focus: High yield clients (while not completely dismissing the four-star market as this is still quite significant).

3. ASP: Promoting and assisting wholesalers and agents with the ASP with a dedicated chain of support and prompt follow-through to enable more travel professionals in South America to complete the program.

4. Roadshows: One impressive annual Roadshow introducing the broadest range of Australian products to South America.

5. Workshops: Workshops to be run throughout Brazil with plans to also hold them in Santiago and Buenos Aires.

6. Individual agent training: How to best achieve targets by heightening awareness and engagement, allowing us to train the highest number of travel professionals properly.

7. Marketing campaigns/fam. Tours: Suggesting and mounting proposals for trade marketing campaigns.

8. Tourism Events: Travelweek Sao Paulo and FIT Buenos Aires.

9. Working on your budget as proposed: An outline.

10. Partnering in marketing: Working with partners to maximize our spend.

 

Getting it done.

1. Cluster Grouping: I would communicate with the airlines to identify in each city the wholesalers (known as operators in Brazil or

Mayoristas in other South American countries) and existing agents who are either already selling Australia or who have the potential

to sell it (the latter might be companies which sell similar destinations but have not yet tried to sell Australia seriously).

The first step would be to talk to the airlines. At present, Qantas, Latam, South African, Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, Air New Zealand and

American Airlines offer the most flights to Australia and show the most interest in working with the destination, however there may

also be more flight path opportunities coming on line also over the term of the contract. We would cross check numbers and

comments from these main airlines and maintain a file on them, establishing their present volumes and how interested they are in

improving them. We would also talk with them about their biggest clients to Australia and similar destinations. If they say a large

chunk of the business comes from consolidators, then we would talk with the consolidators to identify which wholesalers are selling

the tickets via the consolidators.

By looking at which companies are selling other similar destinations. such as South Africa, Tahiti, Thailand and the Maldives, we can

assume they might also have the potential to sell Australia and start talking with them. We can follow a similar process in Chile,

Argentina, Colombia and Peru where we already have local contacts in the airlines/GSAs.

2. Focus on high yield. By getting a breakdown on sales numbers in relation to both business-class tickets and high-end hotel/resort

chains with offices in Brazil like LHW, we can also identify and target higher yield travel companies. Having said that, from my

previous experience and from talking with other companies this year, it still seems that the four-star market should not be ignored. I

have in the past organised itineraries for millionaires and even billionaires in Brazil who did not want deluxe hotels and in some cases

even travelled in economy class!

 

Although there is huge potential to increase numbers of deluxe high-yield passengers, there is equal potential in the four-star hotel

sector, whose guests often spend the same amount experiences like day tours and dining out etc as deluxe clients. Also the

experiential tourism, honeymoon, group and family sectors could be increased enormously with more promotion.

3. ASP – I did the ASP in 1997 and became the first Aussie Specialist in Brazil. Although I already had a lot of the knowledge from

travelling extensively in Australia, the programme helped me increase my understanding. I would use this argument with many travel

professionals in South America to explain how my company became the number one bestseller of Australia and held that position for

over 15 years.

I recently did the ASP again and was very impressed with the improvements to the programme. I believe however that the

turnaround time for participants to receive a login needs to be improved. There also needs to be greater follow-up to encourage

each participant to finish the programme quickly so they can start realizing the benefits of being an Aussie Specialist. We would

communicate with each agent wanting to do the programme. We would maintain a file on them to monitor their progress. As part of

this, we would ask them how it is helping them, what problems they encountered, changes they would suggest etc and provide a

general level of support to assist with increasing sales.

We would also seek to expand the participation in the programme to Brazil’s vast number of secondary but extremely wealthy

regional capitals. For instance, there are no Aussie Specialists in Brazilian cities such as Campinas (GDP per capita in 2012 –

R$42,469), Riberão Preto (R$34,006) and Florianópolis (R$39,999). By way of comparison, GDP per capita in São Paulo, Brazil’s largest

city, is R$46,883 and Rio de Janeiro R$39,405*. (We have a separate table showing the GDP of each city in Brazil.)

*Source: IBGE, Brazilian government statistics agency, Cidades@. http://www.cidades.ibge.gov.br/xtras/home.php?lang=_EN

4. Roadshows. From my experience, successful roadshows require a huge amount of time and they are not easy to sell to suppliers in

Australia. I would suggest running one big roadshow in 2017 and if there was demand to proceed with two in 2018. We would follow

up not only with the agents who participated but also with the exhibitors to see if they were happy and in following months if they

noted a return on investment.

 

These would be conducted in Santiago, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires with a major airline as sponsor and an optional extension to Rio.

I ran these for many years. My objective was to not make money out of the project but to make it as accessible as possible for

suppliers to encourage them to participate. It is a large commitment for them to come to South America, spend 10-14 days on the

road and a few thousand dollars. (Unfortunately, many still don’t seem to take advantage of the EDMG, which I feel they could be

encouraged to do.)

We would choose good five-star hotels in each city that are not only safe and comfortable but have good event facilities. We would

also look at ease of access for agents to come to the venue. We would, of course, negotiate good rates on these properties.

Getting an airline on board to sponsor the events is the first step and we are fortunate to have at least three contenders that have

shown interest in working more with Australia. Whichever will give the largest discount/best conditions for participants should be the

sponsor, presuming the airline also fits with any other relevant criteria. We can also ask for them to donate one or two flights to

Australia to be drawn by a lucky agent at each workshop (although we would make it a condition that agents would also need to

complete the ASP to participate!)

Inviting the Australian Ambassador to each event is also important to add to its prestige and attract media attention. We would start

with an opening breakfast, run through the day to allow agents to come in at the time which suits them (they would need to speak

with each exhibitor to be eligible to win the ticket to Australia).

The closing cocktail would include Australian wines (another item we check when negotiating with the hotels is that they would allow

us to bring in a case or two of Australian wines for the cocktail). We would also try have an Australian artist or celebrity appear. There

are some already living in Brazil and others who are very keen on coming over (or coming back), such as top chefs, who we can work

with to also run a special menu at the hosting hotel’s restaurant for the week, or musicians and artists, such as digeridoo players.

We found in the past that April or September were good months in which to run the Roadshows. But we would perform new research

to confirm the best possible dates.

 

5/6. Workshops and individual agent training. By running training workshops in São Paulo and other cities, we plan to educate the

agents and at the same time sign up more participants for the ASP.

We can join with an airline and/or a wholesaler in each city to reduce costs and increase the number of participants at each workshop. I

would talk with the airlines and wholesalers to see what numbers we would estimate for each workshop and then divide up costs so they

do not become a huge investment for TA or our partners. We would also invite a travel insurance company (starting with QBE as they do

want to expand in travel insurance here) to be a co sponsor and allow them to talk about their products.

In wealthy state capitals, such as Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Goiana, Brasília and Belo Horizonte, we can train more agents to give them the

basic introduction they need to sell Australia.

We will monitor sales in the cities after workshops and follow up with agents who genuinely show interest in improving their knowledge

and sales and give them support – again allocating the agents in cluster groups and identifying which ones will warrant more attention

and investment.

We would also like to do training at least once a week with wholesalers in São Paulo city and outer cities like Campinas (1.5 hours away –

population 1.6m) and São José dos Campos and Riberão Preto (2 and 4 hours from Sao Paulo respectively both with populations of 1m

and huge wealth from agriculture and industry). By the way, agriculture is the one sector that is still booming in Brazil. For cities such as

these in the interior, we would conduct initial workshops in person then follow up with webinars and monitor the results.

I have found most wholesalers are open to holding a dinner or breakfast for their agents and staff and having a specialist present to them

(i.e. myself) on Australia and how to sell the destination. In some cases, I have provided breakfast at these talks in the form of sandwiches

and fruit juice. This is standard in Brazil and not a huge expense – US$100-200 depending on numbers.

 

Our focus again will be on ASP but also on educating the staff on how to sell other cities besides the standard SYD/MEL/CNS which has

been the norm for many years in Brazil. They need to know how to sell MEL/ADL along with the Great Ocean Road, and how to sell the

Whitsundays and Sunshine Coast, Islands, wine regions, Tasmania and more. By showing them the variety available and the great things

to see and do apart from the standard three-city itinerary, we can excite them to offer something extra to their clients and thus increase

sales.

7. Marketing campaigns and fam. tours. One of the best incentives - if done right – for travel agents is a fam tour with a target to

meet to participate. If we run a campaign with an airline sponsoring the flights and the states sponsoring ground arrangements, we can

do at least two a year but with targets to meet to participate. The other option is we charge a nominal fee of say US$500 per participant,

which means the agency will send only people who will give them a return on this investment.

We would also look at incentives to work with airlines, wholesalers and consolidators to motivate agents to sell more Australia – similar to

a fidelity system where they can gain points and prizes. These could range from Tim Tams or Australian wines through to participating in

fam. tours.

Keeping agents informed. We can translate into Portuguese news from around Australia that is interesting to travel professionals in

Brazil. We would also like to do the same in Spanish for agents in Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay and Peru. By sending this

information out using Mailchimp, we will have a record of feedback on who is opening the emails, how many times they are reading them

and other details which will enable us to customise and change as needed the offering to achieve better results.

We would produce a South American Australia travel trade Facebook, Twitter and Instagram account and load images, news and

comments on and encourage all agents to participate, when on famtrips and at workshops etc we will load more material to keep the

interest and numbers growing.

Participants in TA dinners, cocktails and breakfasts will be encouraged to post on these social media platforms. We would also like to

share great posts from travel trade, Brazilian celebrities when they travel in Australia and ambassadors like Chris Hemsworth. Brazil is the

second country in the world after the U.S. in Facebook users. Instagram is behind only because it's still in its infancy. As Australia is also

huge for social media use, we really have to take advantage of this.

 

Events. By selecting events to promote well in advance, we will allow time for agents and wholesalers to assemble packages and

market these on their websites and mail outs. This will lead to substantially more bookings. These would also be loaded on the

Portuguese and Spanish language Facebook sites and include not only annual events, such as the Formula One in Melbourne and the

Australian Open but also one-offs, such as Melbourne hosting the world’s top 50 restaurants or the Adelaide Festival of Arts, whale shark

season in WA (there are over 200,000 Padi registered divers in Brazil), turtle hatching in Queensland and events such as medical

congresses, in which there exists great potential for doctors from South America to participate (remembering they usually take their

spouses along).

Dinners. Cluster A travel professionals will be invited to dinners with a focus on Australia. We would coordinate with the selected

restaurant to provide at least one dish with an Australian theme to help raise awareness of Australia’s culinary prowess. These dinners

would need to be held at good venues to attract the best participants. I once hosted a dinner at a new, top-end restaurant in São Paulo

that was the talk of the town. Out of 100 invitations, 92 travel professionals participated, which was unheard of for any travel event at the

time. The Australian Ambassador gave a speech and the media attended. Brazil now has over 12 Michelin star restaurants and one chef

who owns two of them has been to Melbourne various times and would be I believe interested in putting on a dinner with Australian

inspired dishes.

8. Travel Fairs. The main fair in Brazil at present is Travelweek, which targets high-end agents and is very professionally run. The other

large event is WTM/Braztoa, which is poorly located and does not attract as many quality agents. I have attended both Travelweek and

WTM (on the stand with TNZ this year) and found WTM attendees more class-B type agents seeking freebies or material and only a small

percentage of quality agents with high-end passengers.

We would include FIT in Buenos Aires in 2017 and decide after that if it was worthwhile participating again in 2018.

9. The investment. In reference to reducing my proposed options as sent to you this week: Based on option 2 which was US$242,151.00,

to reduce this to US$220,000.00 we will need to alter the position of full time assistant to part time, which with taxes, holiday pay, health

insurance and transport costs, will bring it down to US$226,551.00.

 

I would rather not lower it any further as feel if we cut the theme dinners we will be cutting out what can be a great thing, however if you

really want to lower the price to 220,000 that would be the next thing to cut. Leaving it at US$226,551.00 p.a, the breakdown would be:

Brazil – US$176,710.00 (78%), Chile US$20,389.00 (9%), Argentina US$16,990.00 (7.5%), Colombia – US$5,665.00 (2.5%), Peru – US$4500.00,

(2%) and Uruguay – US$2,260.00 (1%)

Obs: This is of course flexible if you wish to change allotment on each country we can. I have calculated these figures based on

approximate time to be allocated to each country and costs for travel fairs to be divided etc. This does not include partnering in

advertising or brochure support with travel companies which I am sure we will be asked for so if you wish to allocate any funds to this for

me to divide we can also do this or can approach you on a case by case basis.

10. Marketing with partners. A great way to get more value for our spend is of course partnering and I am all for this with non-conflicting

partners. As mentioned various times in the details above, we would look wherever we can to partner with airlines, hotels, tour companies,

insurance companies and even request support from The Australian Embassy, which in the past has been happy to assist with things like

wines for a cocktail. I do realise this must be done very carefully and fairly to avoid some feeling left out and offended so we would do a

rotating system or offer sponsorship to various companies and whichever responds positively within the time frame would be chosen.

In closing….

This is a job I have wanted to do for years because it is something I know I can do well. With the strategy I have outlined here, RGS

Access will drive serious increases in the volume and yield of passengers visiting Australia from South America over the next three years.

For me, promoting Australia to the travel trade in South America is not just a job, it is something I am passionate about. I enjoy helping

to train and motivate travel professionals and showing them that working with this sensational destination is not only financially rewarding

but a great pleasure as well.

With thanks, Craig Bavinton