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2021 Australian Tourism Exchange kicks off in Sydney

Tourism Australia’s largest annual travel trade event, the Australian Tourism Exchange 2021 (ATE21), has opened in Sydney and will be running over two weeks as a hybrid event incorporating both live and online elements for the first time.

Tourism Australia’s largest annual travel trade event, the Australian Tourism Exchange 2021 (ATE21), has opened in Sydney and will be running over two weeks as a hybrid event incorporating both live and online elements for the first time.

The Australian Tourism Exchange is back!

The 2021 event will be the 41st edition of Australia’s largest tourism tradeshow and it is designed to connect tourism operators together with travel wholesalers and agents from Australia and around the world.

This year’s event is particularly significant, as it is the first time the tourism industry has gathered on such scale since pre-COVID.

The live event, ATE Live, will take place from 6 to 9 June at the ICC Sydney, with more than 1,000 buyers and sellers in attendance from both Australia and New Zealand including inbound tour operators, luxe buyers, and specialist buyers.

ATE Online will follow from 10 to 17 June and will facilitate connections with over 1,200 Australian sellers and international buyers who are unable to be in Australia in-person.

Australian Tourism Exchange

Tourism Australia says the demand for ATE has been extraordinary, and more than 57,000 meetings have been created across ATE Live and ATE Online with 99 per cent of buyer diaries being full.

Tourism Australia Managing Director, Phillipa Harrison, said that it was wonderful to look towards the industry’s future after one of the most challenging years on record for tourism.

“The tourism industry was one of the hardest hit, first by the impacts of the 2019-20 summer bushfires and then the COVID-19 pandemic, and while we know it will take time for the industry to fully recover, maintaining business connections is critical,

“Having the opportunity to bring together so many colleagues from the industry, both from within Australia and overseas, to make, maintain and develop invaluable links between Australian tourism operators and the global distribution network at ATE is more important than ever for ensuring Australia remains top of mind,” She said.

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With this year’s hybrid format, Australian sellers can meet and network with both Australian-based international and domestic buyers in person, and then virtually with overseas-based international buyers.

The impact of COVID-19 on the tourism industry has been devastating, and Tourism Australia’s focus is on supporting Australia’s tourism businesses as much as possible so they can maintain these valuable businesses
connections, rebuild and return to growth again once international travel resumes.