Displaying items by tag:Tourism Australia

Experiencing Vivid Sydney was one of the highlights for seven Aussie Specialist agents who recently returned from a famil hosted by Destination New South Wales and VisitCanberra, in partnership with Tourism Australia. Air New Zealand supported the trip as airline partner.

Tourism Australia has appointed Kathryn (Kath) O’Brien as the organisation’s executive general manager (EGM) global markets, bringing more than 20 years of industry experience in tourism and aviation to the role.

Tourism Australia has set the dates for this year’s Australia on Tour roadshow, which will be held in conjunction with State and Territory partners.

Robin Mack is Tourism Australia’s new managing director. He has almost 30 years of multi-sector global experience within the travel industry.

By Faye Spooner

Tourism Australia and state tourism organisations reinforced their relationships with the New Zealand travel trade during a two-day event in Auckland this week.

Highlights included a Virtuoso luxury dinner, workshops with updates from TA’s state tourism partners, and social networking at The Hotel Britomart.

Daniel Wright, distribution and partnerships manager, was joined by Chris Allison, regional general manager Americas and New Zealand for Tourism Australia. Now on his second visit here, Allison noted continuing opportunities to grow market share.

‘New Zealand is number one in visitor arrivals, with a 98% recovery on 2019 numbers, and fourth for total spend behind USA, China and the UK. We want to ensure we support increased airline capacity and continue to bring new products and reasons to travel to Australia.’

Allison says key metrics show a 16% year-on-year increase in spending for the 12 months to June 2025, with holiday travel rising 24% over the same period.

The event featured updates from Destination New South Wales, South Australian Tourism Commission, Tourism and Events Queensland, Tourism Tasmania, Tourism Western Australia, and Visit Victoria, highlighting current trends, collaborative marketing efforts, and campaigns. Aussie Specialist programme trainer, Veronica King also participated.

Tourism Australia confirmed that applications for ATE26 in Adelaide will open on 1 November 2025.

aussiespecialist.com/en-nz

• Cath McLeod, Karen McMahon, Tania Chatsinchai, and Ashleigh Teixeira, all Wanderlust Travel Experts
• Rowena McCarron, Flight Centre; Melissa Brooks, Destination NSW
• Tanya Casey, Air New Zealand; Rachel Dickey, Tourism and Events Queensland; Stacey Kerr, South Australian Tourism Commission, Sam Cameron, Destination NSW
• Chris Allison, regional general manager Americas and New Zealand for Tourism Australia; Dan Wright and Veronica King, both Tourism Australia
• Kim Beere, First Travel Group; Fynnola Campbell, First Travel Group; Tara Baxter, Helloworld; Kylie Crouch, First Travel Group
• Stacey Kerr, South Australian Tourism Commission; Kate Wright Tourism Western Australia, Hayley Fraser, House of Travel

Kiwi travel agents can expect an increasingly personalised and bespoke approach to training from Tourism Australia this year with three or four famils currently being planned. While details are still to be released the trips will aim to give participants a broader and deeper understanding of destinations that are visited.

Kiwi travel agents can expect an increasingly personalised and bespoke approach to training from Tourism Australia this year with three or four famils currently being planned. While details are still to be released the trips will aim to give participants a broader and deeper understanding of destinations that are visited.

An insight into Australia’s pulling power for New Zealand consumers was amongst information shared at the recent Tourism Australia (TA) industry update in Auckland.

Having three of the four Australia on Tour events scheduled for late November already fully subscribed is testimony to how much the trade still values being educated and hearing about new and different ideas when it comes to selling the destination, says Chris Allison, regional general manager Americas and New Zealand for Tourism Australia.

Now is the right time to be spiking the curiosity of the New Zealand market and providing premium options for clients seeking something different, says Karen Fitzgerald, Tourism Australia’s general manager experiences.

‘We speak to the curious. People may have looked further afield in the past but one thing Covid has done is made many of us look differently at our backyards. They realise there are many experiences they hadn’t considered in the past and now they are keen to discover them.’