Cairns will this week play host to more than 100 key international buyers for ATEC Meeting Place with over 450 delegates to take part in more than 4,500 face to face meetings.
Queensland Assistant Tourism Minister Michael Healy said ATEC Meeting Place was an important part of rebuilding Queensland’s international visitor economy.
“We want our international tourism partners to experience Tropical North Queensland’s iconic visitor attractions and great tropical Queensland lifestyle for themselves,” he said.
“We know when international buyers have first-hand knowledge of our world-class visitor and amazing cultural experiences, they’ll recommend them again and again to overseas agents and holidaymakers.
“ATEC Meeting Place also brings immediate benefits to Cairns with delegates themselves predicted to contribute more than 1,000 visitor nights and $1.5 million to the Tropical North.
“Attracting overseas visitors is a highly competitive business, even more so since the pandemic. That’s why it’s crucial to leverage great opportunities like ATEC Meeting Place for the post-Covid recovery of Queensland’s international tourism industry.”
Tourism Tropical North Queensland CEO Mark Olsen said the inbound tour operators participating in Meeting Place would play a key role in helping to restart the region’s $1 billion a year export industry.
“Hosting these travel trade VIPs gives us the opportunity to discuss Tropical North Queensland’s strong focus on sustainability and allows them to discover why we are a leading nature-based destination,” he said.
“This week the Tropical North Queensland tourism industry will ensure these VIPs not only see great, but leave greater knowing that they have a deeper understanding of the World Heritage areas and people they are visiting.”
ATEC managing director Peter Shelley said it was important that Australian tourism products “put the message out that they are eagerly awaiting the arrival of international visitors”.
“As the industry reboots, we are facing many challenges and obstacles from aviation capacity to workforce stress to global factors like the war in Ukraine, so it’s vital that tourism businesses get back out there and get noticed,” he said.
“As we move forward post-covid the industry needs to engage as ‘Team Australia’ to re-establish ourselves as a highly desirable destination and be competitive against the rest of the world for the global tourism dollar.”
