Kiwis and Aussies may have their differences, but at an upcoming get together hosted by Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ), they’ll be willing to throw these aside and experience the best tourism the Sunshine Coast has to offer.
TEQ recently announced that travel agents from New Zealand will meet up with their counterparts in Melbourne to go on a two-day walkabout, which will include workshops on Queensland’s tourism sector and tours through some of its favoured areas.
“The Tri-State Walkabout is coordinated by TEQ, Destination New South Wales and Tourism Victoria, and is a key training event for New Zealand retail, wholesale and corporate agents to attend, learn about and experience Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria,” said Queensland Premier Campbell Newman. “The event gives us the chance to give these trade partners a firsthand taste of Queensland’s premier tourism products and experiences.”
Newman went on to discuss the walkabout in greater detail, noting that a total of 100 travel agents will get to test out nearly 100 tourism experiences, with the bulk of these based in Queensland. Target destinations include the Southern Great Barrier Reef, the famed Outback, the Tropical North and both Sunshine and Gold Coast.
The whole initiative is part of an effort to expand the tourism market to more New Zealanders. This also includes extending marketing and trade campaigns that were developed to entice more people from the Land of the Long White Cloud to hop across the Tasman Sea.
If you’re a Kiwi and you fancy making this trip yourself, make sure you organise a Brisbane International Airport car hire before you leave!
Queensland has a robust tourism sector already established, with more than 18 million domestic visitors who stayed in the state overnight in 2012. This was combined with another 2 million who stayed overnight from another country. All this added up to $21.5 billion in visitor expenditures last year.