Mumbai, July 30, 2012: Tourism Australia will be organising a Destination Training Program for frontline staff of travel agencies based in key markets of India from mid September to early October 2012. The program will be hosted in Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Hyderabad respectively. The objective of the Program is to enhance awareness of the tourism experiences in Australia and aid travel agency personnel in planning itineraries and handling customer queries. 

The program will also see participation from representatives of Destination New South Wales, Tourism Queensland, Tourism Victoria, and South Australian Tourism Commission.

Tourism Australia will also be launching a new campaign in August 2012 highlighting some of Australia’s best tourism attractions, experiences and products. The campaign will feature many unique Australian attractions, including the Sydney's harbour & Sydney Opera House, the Great Ocean Road & spectacular Twelve Apostles, Ayers Rock (Uluru), the Great Barrier Reef's Lizard and Hayman Islands, Freycinet in Tasmania and South Australia’s Kangaroo Island. The destination training modules will be inclusive of details on these ‘Best of Australia’ experiences which will better equip travel agents on selling these products and experiences to customers.

Speaking about the training program, Mr. Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager, India, Tourism Australia says, “Destination trainings are an important aspect of our trade strategy. Interactive training sessions are a great way for us to strengthen destination knowledge among frontline staff. This will also be a good opportunity for us educate our travel partners on ‘Best of Australia’ experiences that we will be showcasing through our new campaign which we will launch soon. We have had a great response for these insightful sessions in the past and look forward to another successful round of training programs.’

As part of its trade development initiative, Tourism Australia runs an online training program known as the Aussie Specialist Program (ASP). There are currently 2,860 agents registered on the program with more than 710 qualified Aussie Specialist agents from 264 travel agencies across India.

The schedule of the training program will be as follows:

About Tourism Australia

Tourism Australia is responsible for promoting Australia world-wide as the world’s best destination for business and leisure. Through a wide range of activities Tourism Australia aims to raise awareness of Australia’s unique attributes which attract and entice visitors to experience our country. Our activities in 23 markets, including Australia, include advertising, public relations and media programs, trade shows and programs for the tourism industry, consumer promotions, online communications and research.

In November 2010 Tourism Australia unveiled a new strategic approach for Australian tourism – the 2020 Tourism Industry Potential - to improve the industry’s performance and competitiveness. The 2020 Tourism Industry Potential is a 10 year vision for the industry which aims to grow the overnight expenditure generated by tourism to as much as $140 billion by 2020.

To achieve the 2020 Potential, Tourism Australia operates in key markets around the world offering the greatest opportunities for tourism growth including Australia. This includes established markets such as the United Kingdom, Japan, New Zealand, USA, Germany, Korea, and China; growth markets such as Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India; Thailand, and Gulf Countries.

For more information visit www.tourism.australia.com | www.facebook.com/seeaustralia

For further information, please contact Perfect Relations:

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