This week Tourism Noosa’s trade and business event’s manager, Vynka Hutton headed to the United States of America for the first overseas travel trade event since 2019.
The trade visit aims to re-engage with the North American market to ensure Noosa remains front of mind in this highly competitive international source market.
“With the recommencement of direct flights into Brisbane from North America and direct flights to Auckland from the Sunshine Coast Airport providing a connection straight into New York City, it is vital that Tourism Noosa invest in these markets to ensure Noosa stays top of mind,“ Ms Hutton said.
“The Australian borders are now well and truly open and Noosa is excited and ready for our international visitors to return.
“Here’s to a new chapter in a post Covid-19 world with many successes to come for Noosa and Australia.“
The eight-day roadshow visits travel agents, trade partners and tourism bodies based in Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, and Orange County to provide education, updates and itinerary planning to entice visitors to include Noosa in their holiday plans.
The Down Under Answers (DUA)/Travel 2 event will engage with over 300 agents and is one of North America’s largest consortia of travel agents that are qualified Aussie Specialists.
The DUA event will be followed by Tourism Australia’s Australia Marketplace North America that will take place in Los Angeles from 7 to 9 August. The event will establish business relationships, increase awareness and availability of the Noosa product that can be sold to the North American customer.
Tourism Noosa will be joined by other Sunshine Coast businesses including Creative Tours, Eco Safaris, Spicers Retreats, Tasty Tours, Aqua Duck and Visit Sunshine Coast.
The North American visitor market is incredibly important to the Noosa tourism industry, as prior to Covid-19, they were the most profitable international market based on spend per visitor.
In 2019, Noosa had 11,500 visitors, with an expenditure of $15.1 million from North America.
That equates to an average spend of $1.3k per person, which is more than double the average international spend in Noosa from other markets.
During Covid-19, High Value Travellers have saved more money than ever before with 16.9 million stating they had Australia on their travel bucket list in 2020.
The focus on High Value Travellers, ensures that the destination benefits, due to increased spending across the region that filters down to a broad range of businesses across the Noosa shire.
They typically search for destinations that provide great food, beautiful beaches and interactions with nature and wildlife which perfectly aligns to what our incredible region has to offer.
