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Tourism Australia has recently hosted top business events buyers from Asia and the United Kingdom with two separate corporate familiarisation programs to help grow the business events market for Australia. These Corporate Familiarisation programs are designed to move corporate buyer awareness of Australia as a destination for business events to preference and intention. This is the fourth annual famil for the Asian market and the third for the UK market.

The Asian Corporate Familiarisation ‘Come See Australia’ which ran from 5 to 10 May, 2006, included 19 corporate buyers and three media delegates from China, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and India. The participants were from companies including Amway, Prudential Life Insurance, Diners Club and Herbalife.

Tourism Australia in conjuction with Tourism Whitsundays and Brisbane Marketing put together an outstanding program which highlighted the diverse array of incentive products available in each destination. The program included two nights on Hayman and three nights at the Hilton Brisbane. Highlights of the famil included a day trip to Knuckle Reef in the Whitsundays, ‘Breakfast with the Animals’ at Dreamworld and a decadent lunch and wine tasting at Queensland’s largest and most highly awarded winery, Sirromet Winery.

The UK Corporate Familiarisation ‘Taste of Australia’ was held in Sydney and the Gold Coast from 17 to 22 May. The corporate end-users from the UK represented companies including Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, Citigroup and Telstra Europe.
The program contained a wide range of incentive product, including sailing on Sydney Harbour, BridgeClimb, lunch at the Sydney Opera House, parasailing, ‘hot laps’ at the Holden Performance Driving Centre, and wine tasting in the Gold Coast hinterland.
Tourism Australia’s New Zealand and North America familiarisation programs will run later in the year, with another four famil programs to run in 2007. Feedback from the delegates participating in the programs has been very positive, with comments including:

“I would like to say a big thank you to Tourism Australia for the invitation, and Tourism Whitsundays and Brisbane Marketing for a tremendous effort in organising and making all of us feel warm and special during our stay in the Whitsundays and Brisbane. It definitely gave an insight into venues and things we can do for our future groups that will be visiting Australia.”
– Singaporean delegate

“Now I am back at my desk in rainy London, I wanted to again say thank you so much for organising and being part of an amazing UK Corporate Famil Program. I struggled to find anything negative to say or anything constructive to say to make your program even better ... it was perfect for the purpose, just perfect. Your enthusiasm as to the feasibility that Telstra Europe can possibly stage their corporate incentive events in Australia has certainly rubbed off on me, and I am now inspired to work hard to convince the powers that be here in the UK.”
– English delegate

“G’day! - already missing the times in Australia. Thinking about the last six days, it feels like that I had a wonderful dream and I can’t say thank you enough to the Tourism Australia, Brisbane Marketing and Tourism Whitsundays teams for giving me and other participants such a wonderful dream. I also thank all of you for being such great company for the whole time.”
– Korean delegate

International buyers will participate in a full program commencing with their arrival into Brisbane International Airport on Thursday, 2 November, and will be escorted to the Gold Coast for the official start of the event. A buyer familiarisation program will be held on Friday, 3 November and again following the trade show on Monday, 6 November. The trade show component of the program will be held at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre on Saturday, 4 November and Sunday, 5 November.
Following this, buyers have the opportunity to participate in one of the post touring programs, which will be coordinated by the participating convention and visitors bureaux. Post touring is offered to all international buyers, media, Tourism Australia escorts and airline escorts attending the event.

Tourism Australia’s international offices continue to recruit top quality international incentive buyers within their regions. The buyers are required to undertake a very detailed evaluation process and must also have not personally attended Dreamtime in 2002 or 2004. The successful buyers must possess a client base that has potential to bring incentive or corporate meeting business to Australia.

Six of the Gold Coast’s finest hotels are sponsoring accommodation for the 140-plus international buyer delegates. The sponsoring hotels are Conrad Jupiters, Gold Coast International Hotel, Hotel Watermark, Palazzo Versace, Royal Pines Resort and the Sofitel Gold Coast. The sponsor hotels are also extending special rates to seller delegates attending Dreamtime 2006. With registrations for sellers recently closing, this year has attracted an overwhelming response from Australian industry keen to participate and maximise opportunities at this exciting event. More information on Dreamtime can be found at www.tradeevents.australia.com