Indians rank Australia as No.1 nation for safety, friendliness, food and wine

• Australia ranked No.1 on Food and Wine among those Indians who have previously travelled to Australia.

• Sydney, Gold Coast, Cairns, Melbourne and Kangaroo Island were the most appealing regions for Indians intending to visit Australia.

• Among Australia’s 11 key tourism markets, Indians showed the highest intention to visit Australia for a holiday.

The research surveyed 1,200 Indian customers who were selected on the basis of their previous long-haul travel behaviour and/or their intention to travel long haul in the next few years.

The Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index has ranked Australia ninth for the last three years.

According to the index, Australia’s key strengths are its reputation in governance and tourism. Australia has the highest ranking in the people category and is also rated as one of the most desirable places to live and work. The index examines six dimensions of competence: exports, governance, culture, people, tourism, immigration and investment.

In the 2012 Reputation Institute''s Country RepTrak survey of 22,000 consumers in the G8 countries (UK, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, USA, Canada and Japan), Australia continues to have an extremely strong reputation among residents of these countries. Of the 52 countries measured, Australia ranks third behind Canada and Sweden. The institute’s selection of countries for the survey was based on a combination of criteria, including (a) largest economies, (b) largest populations, and (c) country of interest due to recent economic, political or natural events.

As a part of its India 2020 Strategy, Tourism Australia intends to

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