Australian tourism industry representatives met with 200 major US travel agencies and tour operators at the Australia Marketplace North America in Los Angeles this week to promote tourism to this key market for the first time since 2019.
Held from 7–9 August 2022, the event included two days of pre-scheduled appointments with buyers and sellers plus evening networking opportunities to establish important relationships between Australia and North America.
Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell said the event promotes Australia as a tourism destination in a key tourism market as more than one million visitors from the US and Canada visited Australia in 2019.
“The two-day event hosted by Tourism Australia provides Australian tourism industry leaders with the opportunity to connect directly with travel agencies and tour operators in North America,” Mr Farrell said.
“The US was Australia’s third-largest source market for international visitation and the second most valuable for spend with 818,000 Americans travelling to Australia in 2019 and spending $3.9 billion.”
Tourism Australia Managing Director Phillipa Harrison said the connections formed at Australia Marketplace are more important than ever.
“These connections are so vital for the Australian tourism industry as we look to rebuild after being one of the hardest hit sectors by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Ms Harrison said.
“We know the recovery will take time but we want to get back to those pre-COVID levels as quickly as possible and North America will play a central role in that.”
The event attracted US tourism leaders including Travel Answers Group President Kirk Demeter, Signature Travel Network President Alex Sharpe, Flight Centre Americas President Charlene Leiss, The Travel Corp President Brett Tollman, and Qantas Sales North America Vice President Dave Thomas.
Key Australian tourism leaders at the event included Experience Co CEO John O’Sullivan, Voyages Indigenous Tourism CEO Matt Cameron-Smith, Ultimate Winery Experiences CEO Kate Shilling, YHA CEO Paul McGrath, Baillie Lodges COO Craig Bradbery, and Virtuoso Senior Vice President Michael Londregan.
Tourism Australia is also planning future Australia Marketplace events in other key tourism markets such as Japan/South Korea in September and in UK/Europe in November.
Australia Marketplace North America comes after CATO members met with Tourism Minister and key government departments in Canberra last week and Visit USA Expo 2022 promoted US travel to advisors in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
For more info, visit tourism.australia.com
