If you're young and seeking a good time in Australia, New South Wales is the perfect place to play, study and work.  New South Wales is keen to attract youth travellers - generally defined as those aged 18-30. The state has a great deal to offer, ranging from some of the world's best beaches, awesome nature and Sydney's pulsing entertainment and nightlife scene.

Endless action and great experiences

New South Wales is justifiably renowned as fantastic surfing territory. Maroubra, Angourie (near Yamba on the state's north coast), Lennox, Crescent Head, Merewether (Newcastle), Killalea and North Narrabeen are among Australia's best.  A new thrill is Stand Up Paddle Boarding (SUP). It has taken off in a big way and is very popular with those who have tried surfing. 

On land and in the air, New South Wales bubbles with activity. The action covers everything from sandboarding colossal coastal dunes at Stockton Beach between Newcastle and Port Stephens, to outback horse races. Float over the Hunter vineyards one of the state's most illustrious winegrowing area - in a hot-air balloon or stomp your own grapes at the Hunter Valley Resort.

The Youth Traveller

Research conducted in 2011 by Tourism Australia and industry partners showed that 92 per cent of youth visitors to Australia either planned to visit, or had already visited, New South Wales. That was the highest percentage for any Australian state or territory.

Youth travellers include backpackers, young qualified professionals working abroad and students. They stay longer and travel further than other demographics. 

To engage this tech-savvy market, Destination NSW focuses mainly on developing and delivering digital content to present Sydney and NSW as an exciting, accessible and affordable destination for youthful travellers. 

Youth Campaign

Destination NSW's most recent youth campaign was titled "#NSW Unmapped". The exercise involved a group of five international travel bloggers who took a month-long road trip to visit some of NSW's best destinations. Participants departed Sydney in early March and shared their adventures with thousands of worldwide followers on Facebook and Twitter.

The campaign has been a huge hit on DNSW's social media sites, reaching 2.5 million users on Facebook in its first week. 

The bloggers created new content as they travelled around NSW in a bus, visiting the South Coast, Central NSW, the Hunter, the Mid North Coast and the Northern Rivers. The social media experts filmed, posted, tweeted and blogged their experiences along the way.

The best way to understand it is to view it. The content shows young people having a lot of fun. It's infectious and it worked well. To see the experiences and destinations visited go to visitnsw.tumblr.com, facebook.com/VisitNSW or youtube.com/visitnsw.

Easy travel in Regional NSW

Sydney, with its sunny, outdoor allure, has tremendous appeal for young travellers. But take a step beyond Sydney and Regional NSW offers similar appeal, with a wide range of terrain and topography, beaches, mountains, rainforest, unspoiled coastland, rural hinterland and Outback. Transport options range from hop on-hop off, point-to-point coach travel to the Backtracker Pass, which delivers unlimited travel on the CountryLink rail network around NSW and is available exclusively to overseas visitors holding a valid passport and a return airline ticket.

Youthful products at ATE

In Sydney, Sydney Harbour Tall Ships, which operates harbour cruises aboard Southern Swan, an 1850s style sailing ship, is providing a new thrill. Adventurous harbour sailors can climb the vessel's 15-metre mast, a novel way to obtain great views of the city. Sydney Harbour Tall Ships has developed exclusive safety equipment to allow trained crew members to instruct visitors on the climb, opening it up for all passengers to enjoy.

Contiki Holidays offers an extensive Australia holiday program specifically designed to let 18 to 35s experience Australia their way. For the first time in 2012, Contiki is offering travellers tours to the legendary Splendour in the Grass music festival at Byron Bay and trips to some of Australia's biggest Racing Carnival events. East coast itineraries starting in Sydney now typically include: a ferry ride to Manly, a seafood dinner at Nicks, Darling Harbour and a day trip to the Blue Mountains.  

Adventure Tours Australia, a small-group tour company providing a wide range of tours for active travellers, prides itself on delivering authentic experiences at affordable prices. 

Bonza Bike Tours runs small-group bike tours of Sydney, complete with stunning harbour views. The perfect introduction to Sydney, at a moderate price.

Some modes of transport suit young holidaymakers. Campervans frequently enter the picture, combining accommodation with transport in a way that makes them a bargain for small groups. Campervan rental companies at ATE12 include Apollo Motorhome Holidays, Backpacker Campervan Rentals, Britz Campervans, Jucy, KEA Campers and Spaceships. Travellers Autobarn offers a range of campervans, cars and station-wagons for sale with guaranteed buyback, as well as campervan hire and rentals. 

Lets Go Surfing teaches that most famous of Aussie of pastimes. There's a popular two-hour introduction lesson to surfing the Bondi waves that's safe, exciting and fun, discounted multi-lesson surf packages, a five-lesson package for beginners and even private lessons for those wanting to ramp up their style with extra attention from a dedicated surf coach. A new thrill is Stand Up Paddle Boarding, one of the coolest work-out crazes to hit town. Plus they offer extended tours, heading from Bondi to Byron Bay, both world-renowned surf spots, with plenty of surf in between. 

Ozjet presents Sydney Harbour sightseeing the fast, exciting way, combining sights with jet boating in the company's famous red shark boats, complete with spins, slides, power-break stops and fishtails. 

Finding a place to stay on a budget is easy...

Nomads, one of Australia's most prolific youth and accommodation marketing companies, offers the Nomads Mad Card, providing exclusive member rates at Nomads backpacker hostels, discounts on tours and campervan hire and savings on Greyhound and Great Southern Rail passes.

BASE backpackers has been described as "a revolution in beds, bars and travel experience". Designed for the modern-day global traveller, BASE hostels offer good facilities, superior comfort, security and friendly services.

YHA Australia is well-known to young travellers. YHA runs 33 hostels in NSW and the Canberra region, including Sydney Central, Sydney Railway Square, as well as the Sydney inner-city suburb of Glebe and Sydney beachside suburbs like Bondi, Collaroy, Pittwater, Cronulla and The Rocks. The latter offers multishare and double/twin accommodation, all with ensuites and many with Sydney Harbour and Sydney Opera House views. 

Other YHA hostels are located in the Blue Mountains (Katoomba and Hawkesbury Heights), Port Stephens, Coffs Harbour, Bellingen, Port Macquarie, Albury/Wodonga, Armidale, Batemans Bay, Bundanoon, Byron Bay, Hunter Valley, Lennox Head, Merimbula, Murwillumbah-Mt Warning, Narooma, Newcastle Beach, Nimbin, Tamworth, Terrigal, Thredbo, Wollongong and Yamba.


In short, New South Wales is classic youth territory - plenty of fun and endless memorable experiences. Even accommodation can turn out to be an adventure in itself. Choices include a subterranean sleepover at The White Cliffs Underground Motel, dug deep into the rock where temperatures are even all year round. It's the way the locals live too.  Another alternative: rent a cave at Hatters Hideout in the Blue Mountains nature reserve.

Global tourism buyers, sellers and media representatives at this year's Australian Tourism Exchange in Perth can now download a free iPhone application that gives them access to the more than 70 'Team NSW' representatives.

Destination NSW Chief Executive Officer, Sandra Chipchase, said the free app is available in seven languages and to download free to use at ATE 2012 at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre from 15-21 June.

"The app was developed by Destination NSW to assist international delegates at ATE to connect with New South Wales tourism industry representatives and Destination NSW staff," Ms Chipchase said.

"The Australian Tourism Exchange is Australia's premier annual tourism event, organised to promote the best of Australian tourism to the international travel and tourism trade.

"The event is the largest international travel trade show of its kind in the southern hemisphere.

"More than 700 international buyers from 40 different countries will attend the Australian Tourism Exchange with NSW showcasing tourism experiences from over 50 different companies.

"The event offers a fantastic opportunity for operators to show why NSW remains the most popular destination for international visitors to Australia."

The app has information about Sydney and New South Wales and background to some of the State's top tourism experiences who are taking part in ATE 2012, including the Sydney Opera House, BridgeClimb Sydney, Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa, Westfield and Sea Sydney Cruises.

Ms Chipchase said Destination NSW will also be supporting tourism operators from Sydney and regional NSW with a range of media and promotional events as well as facilitating meetings and networking opportunities with international wholesalers.

"The new 'Team NSW' app will allow delegates access to NSW team prior to and following their appointments.

"Other features of the app include Team NSW delegates' names, their photographs, short company profile and website address.

"The app will also detail what's happening on the NSW stand, its schedule of hospitality and networking opportunities as well as the ATE floor plan."

To download a free copy of the 'Team NSW app, go to the Apple store and look for "Team DNSW ATE 2012".

For more information go to www.Sydney.com

To access the image library and download images go to www.destinationnsw.com.au

Who's at ATE12 ?
Destination NSW.  Booth 35.  Eastern and Western. www.dnsw.com.au
Adventure Tours Australia. Booth 235. Western. www.adventuretours.com.au 
Aspen Parks and Resorts. Booth 246. Eastern and Western. www.aspenparks.com.au
Apollo Motorhome Holidays. Booth 287. Western. www.apollocamper.com
Australian Attractions. Booth 18 Eastern www.australianattractions.com.au
Australian Reptile Park. Booth 19. Eastern. www.reptilepark.com.au
Australian Skydive Group. Booth 207 Eastern and Western. www.australiaskydivegroup.com
Backpacker Campervan Rentals. Booth 215. Western. www.backpackercampervans.com.au
BASE. Booth 122. Western. www.wwwstayatbase.com
Bonza Bike Tours. Booth 2. Western. www.bonzabiketours.com
Bridgeclimb. Booth 12. Eastern and Western. www.bridgeclimb.com
Britz Campervan Rentals. Booth 139. Western. www.britz.com.au
Broken Hill City Council. Booth 3. Western.  www.brokenhill.nsw.gov.au  
Byron and Beyond. Booth 15. Eastern and Western. www.northernriverstourism.com.au
Contiki Holidays. Booth 312. Eastern and Western. www.contiki.com
Hunter Valley Wine Country Tourism. Booth 6. Eastern and Western. www.winecountry.com.au
Jucy. Booth 237. Western. www.jucy.co.nz
Kea Campers Australia. Booth 208 Western www.keacampers.com
Lets Go Surfing. Booth 19. Western. www.letsgosurfing.com.au
Merlin Entertainments Group. Booth 29 Eastern and Western. www.sydneyaquarium.com.au
Maui Motorhome Rentals.  Booth 135. Western. www.maui.com.au
Moonshadow Charters Pty Ltd.  Booth 16.  Eastern.  www.moonshadow.com.au
Nomads. Booth 251. Western. www.nomadsworld.com
Ozjet Boating. Booth 3. Eastern. www.ozjetboating.com  
Port Stephens Tourism. Booth 7. Eastern and Western. www.portstephens.org.au/
Spaceships. Booth 209. Western. www.spaceshipsrentals.com.au 
Sydney Harbour Tallships. Booth 39B. Western. www.sydneytallships.com.au
Sydney Opera House. Booth 31. Eastern & Western  www.sydneyoperahouse.com
Taronga Zoo. Booth 33. Eastern and Western. www.taronga.org.au
The Legendary Pacific Coast. Booth 14. Eastern and Western. www.pacificcoast.com.au
Travellers Autobarn. Booth 248. Western. www.travellers-autobarn.com.au
YHA Australia. Booth 145. Eastern and Western www.yha.com.au