Lumen Winter 2013 - Flipbook - Page 30
Alumni
story by Candy Gibson
on the move
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28 Lumen | Winter 2013
Karyn’s
passport
to success
Tourism directly contributes about $35 billion to Australia’s economy
each year, accounting for eight per cent of our total exports.
It’s a staggering figure, underlining just how important the industry is
to the country.
These are statistics which economics graduate Karyn Kent knows
by heart. The challenge for the newly appointed South East Asia
Manager for Tourism Australia is to ensure the sums keep multiplying
– for her region at least.
Three of the countries under her responsibility – Singapore, Malaysia
and India – were in the top 10 tourism markets for Australia in 2012
and another – Indonesia – is nipping at their heels.
Since taking over the reins from her predecessor, Maggie White, last
December, Karyn has been based in Singapore, developing tourism
marketing strategies for the region, which also includes Vietnam and
the Gulf Countries.
“The potential is huge,” she said. “Asia’s share of inbound arrivals is
expected to account for 45% of total visitors by 2021–22.”
Much of this will hinge on airline capacity and one of Karyn’s key
priorities will be to ensure that Australia is serviced by the right mix
of full service and low-cost carriers.
“It is also important to align our strategies to suit individual countries
so we are hitting the right markets,” Karyn said. “For example, there
is a significant focus on digital advertising in Singapore, whereas
television is a big part of the brand campaign for India. The maturity
of the market very much comes into play.”
The overarching challenge is to convert Australia from a ‘wish list’ to
a ‘must do’ for travellers around the world.
“Our research tells us that there is a great desire to visit Australia
because it offers so many unique experiences, but we need to create
a sense of urgency among travellers to make that a reality.”
Karyn draws on 20 years of experience in the tourism industry, both
within Australia and abroad.
Her most recent role, as Director of Sales for the South Australian
Tourism Commission (SATC), involved negotiating complex
commercial partnerships both domestically and internationally.
Prior to that she worked in SATC’s Los Angeles office for a spell—her
first real break in the tourism industry.
But like so many others in the travel industry, she fell into it almost
by accident.
“I grew up on a farm in the upper Limestone Coast region of South
Australia and while I always wanted to go to university I really wasn’t
sure what direction to pursue,” Karyn said.
After completing an economics degree at the University of Adelaide
she considered studying law, but ended up applying for a Diploma of
Tourism at Adelaide TAFE instead—and the rest is history.
“It’s such a great privilege to promote Australia to potential visitors
around the world and Tourism Australia has done some fantastic
strategy planning in recent years. Hopefully, this is all going to come
together in the next decade,” she said.
