In October 2019, Tourism Australia embarked on a campaign through which it hoped to make the ICC Women's T20 World Cup final the most attended women's sporting event.
A couple of months later, the country is in the news for the wrong reasons as the bushfire has hit the country destroying wildlife and communities and leaving cities filled with smoke.
In a bid to fix the image of the country, the Australian government has announced an initial A$76million tourism recovery package as part of the National Bushfire Recovery Fund. 25 million of this package has been kept aside for international tourism marketing.
With the men's cricket world cup following the women's tournament, the country could be a hotspot for Indians and Nishant Kashikar, country manager, Tourism Australia, states that the country is safe for travel.
He explains, "While it is still early to report the impact on travel, we would like to reiterate that Australia is a large country, approximately two and a half times the size of India. There are many beautiful tourism experiences and destinations that have not been affected by bushfires and are safe for travel. All international airports in Australia too are operating as normal. None of our airline partners have reported any major cancellations and they continue to witness strong growth in forward bookings. It is more important than ever to support Australian tourism providers. Therefore, at a time like this the best thing one can do is to continue to visit and do business with Australia."
Among the 32 popular tourist zones for Indians in Australia, seven have been partially impacted by the bushfires while one (Upper Murray) has been majorly impacted.
Kashikar adds, "At present, all our efforts remain focused upon instilling trust and confidence to visit Australia among our travellers and trade community. However, at the same time, we will continue to capitalise on the media opportunity offered by the ICC T20 World Cups being hosted in Australia during 2020."
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