Queensland members of Tourism Australia’s Signature Experiences of Australia program connected with 20 key luxury trade partners in an event in Sydney this week.
More than 400 meetings took place earlier this week at the Signature Queensland event to allow tourism businesses to grow their relationships with key buyers and to ensure Queensland is included in more programs and itineraries for high-end, premium customers.
The event, hosted at Sydney’s QT Hotel, provided an opportunity to share Queensland’s experiences and destinations: from luxury rainforest and outback lodges, exclusive island resorts, specialised fishing adventures, customised golf courses, small group wildlife tours, local wineries, cultural attractions and immersive Indigenous experiences.
The buyers (inbound tour operators, wholesalers and domestic travel agencies) in attendance were selected from both Australia and New Zealand for their specialisation in curating exclusive experiential journeys and private luxury vacations to Queensland for high-end travellers from key international markets.
Six of the eight Signature Experiences of Australia Collectives attended the event including Luxury Lodges of Australia, Discover Aboriginal Experiences, Great Golf Courses of Australia, Australian Wildlife Journeys, Great Fishing Adventures of Australia and Cultural Attractions of Australia.
The Signature Queensland event was created for experiential buyers to be able to connect at a business-to-business level and focus on securing contracts and more sales.
A familiarisation program is also being run from 3 to 7 June 2024 which will feature a number of Signature Queensland products from the event to provide a first-hand experience for a select group of buyers.
This event is part of a suite of trade activities being undertaken by TEQ to provide opportunities for the Queensland tourism industry to engage with key inbound and domestic trade partners.
The next trade event on the calendar is Meeting place from 28 to 30 October 2024 on the Gold Coast, hosted in partnership with the Australian Tourism Export Council and Experience Gold Coast.
Queensland Tourism Minister Michael Healy said that the Signature Queensland event is an important building block on the tourism calendar.
“Queensland is already known for the Great Barrier Reef and our iconic beaches, but we want more people to come and experience the vast array of other world-class experiences and destinations we have to offer, and this event is important in getting that message out.
“We know when international buyers experience our great lifestyle and unique visitor offerings, they’ll recommend them to holidaymakers around the globe. Attracting international markets is highly competitive so it’s important we continue to work together to grow our global visitor economy.”
Speaking at the event to Karryon, CEO of Tourism and Events Queensland, Patricia O’Callaghan said:
“I think everybody that has attended today has found it exceptionally valuable. We’ve created this event as a result of feedback from our buyers and Signature Experiences on having these B2B opportunities, with more time on focused meetings. There was definitely an appetite and today has clearly been a success,” said Patricia.
Sellers present at the event included Dreamtime Dive & Snorkel, Hamilton Island, qualia, Lizard Island, Mt Mulligan Lodge, Salter Brothers Hospitality (Spicers Peak Lodge), Silky Oaks Lodge, and Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia (Mossman Gorge Cultural Centre).
Buyers included AAT Kings, Abercrombie and Kent Australia, ANZCRO, Butterfield and Robinson, Luxury Travel Collection, Southern Crossings Australia, The Tailor and more.
For more information, visit teq.queensland.com
