Around 700 international travel delegates from 40 countries fly in to Sydney this week to meet with 1,700 tourism operators from across the country at the Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE)
ATE is Tourism Australia's premier business-to-business event, providing a forum for Australian tourism businesses to showcase their products, meet overseas contacts and negotiate business deals with the travel trade who sell Australian holidays overseas. Around 100,000 business meetings will take place during the event, which is being held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre (SCEC) from 2 to 8 April.
Tourism Australia Managing Director Andrew McEvoy said ATE was important for building future demand for Australia's tourism experiences in the international market.
"ATE is the most important event on the Australian tourism industry calendar and we estimate it will immediately inject more than $10 million in to the locally economy, but many millions more longer term," Mr McEvoy said.
"Many deals will be done and millions of dollars worth of future tourism business for Australia will potentially be generated at ATE, resulting from the thousands of business meetings held during the event.
"It presents an enormous opportunity for Australia's tourism industry to remain competitive internationally and will put us on track to realise the targets outlined in the 2020 Tourism Industry Potential.
"The 2020 Tourism Industry Potential sets an ambitious goal to double the overnight expenditure generated by tourism from $70 billion to $140 billion by 2020 – which events such as ATE will help us to achieve," Mr McEvoy said.
Held annually, ATE is staged in a different host city each year, with the support of the State and Territory tourism partners and Qantas Airways. This year around 1,700 Australian seller delegates from approximately 600 companies will be participating in the event.
Tourism NSW Executive Director and General Manager Lyndel Gray said Sydney was looking forward to hosting the international travel industry for ATE 2011. Having recently hosted 'Oprah's Ultimate Australian Adventure', Tourism NSW has developed an exciting, welcoming program for ATE delegates.
"ATE contributes significantly to continuing the growth of international tourism markets to Australia. This year 85 NSW and Sydney businesses, alongside Tourism NSW, will be promoting an impressive range of excellent tourism experiences and destinations. The NSW tourism industry is primed and eager to capitalise on the business opportunities that will be created by their participation in ATE. ."
As the host State, Tourism NSW has supported the delivery of ATE for 2011 through securing buyer accommodation and the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre as well as hosting buyer and seller delegates at three ATE showcase events during the seven day program.
Tourism NSW has also organised around 30 familiarisation itineraries across Sydney and regional NSW for international buyers to experience local attractions, dining and accommodation.
ATE 2011 has two modules covering the Eastern and Western hemisphere tourism markets. The Eastern Hemisphere module (Japan, Asia and the Gulf countries) will run from 2 to 4 April while the Western Hemisphere module (Europe, the Americas, Africa, New Zealand and the South Pacific) will run from 5 April to 8 April 2011.
Mr McEvoy said ATE was also important for giving the people who sell Australian holidays first-hand experience of the country.
"The beauty of ATE is that the international travel trade not only have the opportunity to meet Australian tourism business at one place but they also get to experience the destination and its tourism experiences first hand," Mr McEvoy said.
"International buyers will get to immerse themselves in the host city Sydney during ATE and then travel to other destinations to participate in familiarisations that will help them to better sell Australia to the world."
Australia received a record 5.9 million international visitors in 2010, an increase of 5.4 per cent on 2009, generating $24 billion in economic value for Australia. New South Wales received more than 2.8 million international visitors during 2010. International visitors spent more than 65 million nights in the State and injected more than $5.9 billion into the NSW economy.
For more information on ATE 2011 visit: www.tourism.australia.com
