AUSTRALIA'S TOURISM EXPERIENCES GO ON SHOW TO THE WORLD IN ADELAIDE

Tourism Australia's premier annual business-to-business travel trade event - the 2018 Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE18) - opens in Adelaide today to showcase the tourism experiences that will drive future visitation to Australia.

The event, organised by Tourism Australia in partnership with host-state partner, the South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC), and airline partner Virgin Australia, has attracted over 2,200 travel industry delegates to Adelaide.

ATE18 will be attended by 650 buyer delegates representing travel wholesalers and retailers from 30 countries, spanning the Americas, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom and Asia-Pacific, to meet and do business with 1,600 tourism delegates from 540 Australian businesses.

Tourism Australia Managing Director John O'Sullivan said it was a great time to be hosting ATE in Adelaide as Australia's visitor economy continues to climb to record levels of spend and visitation.

“Australia welcomed a record 8.8 million international visitors last year, which was around half a million more than the previous year. Significantly, international visitor expenditure rose six per cent to a record $41.3 billion highlighting that our plans to grow Australia's visitor economy are well on track,” Mr O'Sullivan said.

“Importantly, ATE provides a platform for supporting our international consumer travel campaigns by connecting key international travel wholesalers and retailers with Australian industry during the 50,000 business appointments held during the event.

“Ultimately, it is about ensuring Australian holidays are top of mind with the agents who sell our destination to consumers - ensuring we can continue to inspire travellers with our world-class tourism offering and convert the desire for Australia to holiday visits,” Mr O'Sullivan said.

Mr O'Sullivan said the connections made at ATE help deliver around three million visitors each year, spending up to $8.5 billion whilst they are here, thereby helping to further grow our visitor economy.      

“The economic impact of ATE is significant and will directly help to boost Australia's inbound tourism sector, and we are delighted to be hosting the event in Adelaide this year with host state partner the South Australian Tourism Commission,” Mr O'Sullivan said.

“During the week of the event, Adelaide and South Australia can expect an immediate $10 million boost to the local economy,” Mr O'Sullivan said. “Longer term, the relationships and business negotiated at ATE help to secure future travel to Australia, assisting the Australian tourism industry to reach its Tourism 2020 goal of growing overnight expenditure to more than $115 billion annually by the end of the decade.”

Whilst the economic benefits of hosting ATE in Adelaide include an immediate $10 million injection in to the local economy, longer term

South Australian Tourism Commission, Chief Executive, Rodney Harrex said South Australia is an incredible Australian destination to visit and ATE is great opportunity to remind influencers in the travel and tourism space about the best our state has to offer.  

“By hosting ATE we aim to attract more visitors to the state, which will ultimately boost jobs and strengthen our visitor economy,” Mr Harrex said.

“I thank Tourism Australia, our South Australian operators and every Australian business involved for their support in the delivery of a successful ATE18,” Mr Harrex said.

The Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) is being held at the Adelaide Convention Centre through to 19 April 2018.

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* Collectively, ATE buyers bring close to three million passengers each year with an estimated pre-booked spend between $5.5 and $8.5 billion (plus on-ground spend in Australia). Ninety-one per cent of ATE buyers sell mid-range product and 79 per cent sell luxury product to their international customers. These values are based on ATE application data.

For more information contact:
Leo Seaton, Tourism Australia, ph: 0447 463 197 e: lseaton@tourism.australia.com

Kim Moore, Tourism Australia, ph: 02 9361 1306 e: kmoore@tourism.australia.com