The importance of strong aviation partnerships in driving Australia’s future tourism growth has been reaffirmed with the signing of a new commercial agreement between Singapore Airlines and Tourism Australia.

The three-year agreement, which takes effect from 1 July 2011, will see Singapore Airlines and Tourism Australia jointly fund a range of tourism promotion activities aimed at convincing more overseas travellers to visit Australia. The new deal extends a relationship of more than 20 years between Singapore Airlines and the national tourism marketing body.

Mr Mak Swee Wah, Singapore Airlines’ Executive Vice President Commercial, said that the extension of the strategic partnership with Tourism Australia reflected its long-term commitment to the Australian market and contribution to the tourism industry.

“We are all aware of the sizeable opportunities presented to Australia from targeting growth markets such as China, India and Indonesia as well as mature markets such as Singapore, Germany and France. Singapore Airlines is investing close to A$1 million as part of this partnership to promote Australia,” said Mr Mak.

“Whilst we have the benefit of an extensive network and a longstanding presence in those markets, leveraging Tourism Australia’s marketing power will further enable Singapore Airlines to provide a more compelling offer to the traveller.”

Mr Mak added: “We’ve been bringing visitors to Australia since 1967, and as the world’s most awarded airline, Singapore Airlines is uniquely positioned to remain a gateway carrier to Australia’s main capital cities.”

Tourism Australia Managing Director Andrew McEvoy said that Singapore Airlines is a key partner in delivering international visitors to Australia and will help the industry achieve its long-term growth aspirations of doubling overnight tourism expenditure from A$70 billion to A$140 billion by 2020.

“Singapore Airlines is the second largest international carrier in Australia and operates significant capacity into our largest capital cities from key source markets across Europe and Asia. The airline has been a strong partner for Tourism Australia over many years and we have consistently worked together to market Australia through joint campaigns and other marketing activities,” Mr McEvoy said.

“The roll out of our global brand campaign, There’s nothing like Australia, has proved very successful across Asia, with much of our campaign activity in partnership with Singapore Airlines.

“In the next decade, partnerships, and particularly aviation partnerships like this, will be key to Tourism Australia achieving our future growth aspirations and convincing overseas travellers to visit Australia,” he said.

Key markets in the agreement include China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, UK and Vietnam, as well as Singapore itself.

In recent years, Singapore has emerged as one of Australia’s most important inbound tourism markets. It is currently Australia’s sixth largest source market for international tourists with Singaporean arrivals exceeding 300,000 for the first time during 2010.

“The strong growth in visitors from Singapore would not have been possible without the support of Singapore Airlines, who have actively supported the market over the long term to provide consistency and confidence amongst the travel trade and consumers,” Mr McEvoy said.

There were 308,030 visitor arrivals from Singapore during 2010, up eight per cent on the previous year. They spent A$1.2 billion in Australia during the year, a twelve per cent increase compared to 2009. Tourism Australia believes that the market has the potential to grow to between A$2.3 billion and A$2.8 billion in total expenditure by 2020.