SIA Expands Oz Ties

Continuing its aggressive move in the Australian market, Singapore Airlines has now signed a multi-million dollar deal with six tourism organisations in the country to fund joint marketing campaigns.The agreements are worth SG$6.3million (A$5 million) for a period of two to four years, said a statement from SIA. The deal is with the tourism organisations of South Australia Tourism Commission and Destination New South Wales, Tourism Australia, Tourism Queensland, Tourism Victoria and Tourism Western Australia and will cover the promotion of existing and new markets, which include selected countries in Europe and Asia.These activities will include advertising campaigns and familiarisation visits for travel agents and media, said SIA. This is part of SIA's efforts to expand its capacity to the country.Earlier, it acquired a 10% stake in Virgin Australia for SG$133 million, which experts say is a move was made in an attempt to revive the SIA brand name which has been in suffering.Virgin Australia also bought 60% shares in Tiger Australia. SIA still holds a 33% stake in Tiger Airways Holdings (TAH) which owns Tiger Australia.Following regulatory approval, SIA will indirectly hold 6% (through Virgin) and 13.2% (through TAH), bringing it to a total of 19.2% of Tiger Australia.