Monaco Tourist and Convention Authority in Australia and New Zealand

Atout France, the organisation responsible for promoting France to the world, has, exceptionally, given star billing to Destination Monaco for a series of events in Australia and New Zealand. The two nations in Oceania are among the top 10 sources of visitors to the Principality. During the tour, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland all extended a warm welcome.

Among the most dynamic markets for the Principality, Australia and New Zealand stand out as something of a surprise. The 20,000 kilometres which separate Australia from Monaco might lead one to believe that the distance is a handicap. On the contrary, however, Australians love to travel: it is the nation’s favourite pastime. In 2013, one in two Australians left the country to travel abroad! France ranked as the fourth most popular destination, just behind the United States. The average length of stay is 14 days, enough time for the most well-to-do travellers to make a quick detour to Monaco.

It is true that Australia escaped the economic crisis, and has experienced continuous economic growth for the last 22 years! With their high purchasing power and fondness for Mediterranean culture, Australians consider Monaco to be a dream destination. And this has brought results. Growth over the last five years has been spectacular: the number of nights spent in Monaco by Australians alone rose 37% from 13,777 in 2008 to 18,847 in 2013. These are remarkable figures given that the population of Australia is just 23 million (slightly less than the population of Shanghai!), and meant that Australia was ranked eighth in terms of number of visitors to Monaco in 2013.

More than 900 tourism professionals

It was against this background that Atout France asked Guillaume Rose, the Director of the Monaco Tourist and Convention Authority, to be the guest of honour at a major meeting organised once every two years with the entire Australian tourism industry.

By the end of four days, more than 900 tour operators, travel agents and industry journalists will have visited the various events organised by Atout France and the Tourist and Convention Authority. According to Patrick Benhamou, Director of Atout France Australia, “this is the first year we have experienced such great success.” The seminars on Monaco were certainly full, with more than 200 specialist professionals at each of the presentations (in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland).

The Monegasque delegation, led by Guillaume Rose and his teams, included representatives from the Fairmont Hotel, the Hotel Metropole, and SBM (Director of Hotel Operations Luca Allegri).

Guillaume Rose noted, “we must maintain our efforts: Australians are among the customers who spend the most money when abroad. They are both players and consumers in the luxury tourism market. There is enormous potential in this country, with its constantly growing economy.” It is true that Australians currently visit mostly in the summer months (during their winter), “but there is still plenty of scope for development,” said Alison Roberts, the Director of the Tourist and Convention Authority’s very busy Australian office. The most recent summer figures show that she is right: up 4% for the Australian market alone!