ATE opens in Adelaide – will run earlier next year
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The Western Module of Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE), which attracts most of the buyers, opened at Adelaide Convention Centre in the South Australian capital this morning (Monday 31 May 2010).
The Eastern module, attended by buyers from Japan, Asia and the Gulf states, began on 29 May and is due to finish today. Buyers from the rest of the world attend the Western Module.
During ATE 2010, some 1700 Australian delegates from 600 companies will meet up to 700 international buyers from over 40 countries in up to 100,000 business appointments (including 40,000 scheduled appointments). The organisers, Tourism Australia, expect the event to deliver more than AUD10 billion in benefits to Australia.
Tourism Australia managing director Andrew McEvoy said ATE was the only trade show of its kind held in Australia to exclusively showcase Australia’s tourism products to the international market.
“ATE is Australia’s chance to show our tourism trade partners from around world what’s new and great about Australia and why international travellers should visit,” he said.
Tourism Australia is expected later this morning to air its new ad, which focuses on a song “There’s nothing like Australia”, written by television, cinema, and pop music composer Josh Abrahams and ad agency DDB.
The tagline of Tourism Australia’s previous international advertising campaign “Where the bloody hell are you?” struck obstacles on a number of fronts.
This may be the last time ATE is held so late in the year. The event will be held next year in Sydney 2-8 April 2011. Trenz, the equivalent New Zealand show, was also said recently to be contemplating a new slot earlier in the year – but Trenz organisers squashed those rumours by confirming that Trenz 2011 will start on 23 May in Queenstown. This will effectively de-link the two trans-Tasman trade shows, which are customarily held back-to-back. However Tourism Australia managing director, Andrew McEvoy, said today that it was not the first time the two shows had been held at different times. It happened two years ago and had not afffected attendance at ATE, he said.
The Eastern Module has impressed delegates at ATE 2010. BridgeClimb Sydney divisional manager marketing and sales, Angela Slater, said the show has been “really positive” for BridgeClimb so far, particularly in regard to the Chinese-speaking market. The company is attending the Western Module as well.
China is an emerging market for BridgeClimb, with the number of Chinese Climbers having grown 32% in the 2008/09 financial year from a fairly low base in the previous year. Tailored group climbs, which ascend the Sydney Harbour Bridge to the summit, target the Cantonese and Mandarin speaking markets from China, Singapore Taiwan and Hong Kong. In under 12 years, BridgeClimb Sydney has welcomed more than 2.5 million climbers from over 130 countries and territories. Chinese speakers may soon figure more prominently in the total, as Chinese language climbs become available this season (on request) on all three adventures to the summit of the bridge: The Bridge Climb, The Discovery Climb and The Express Climb.
ATE has returned to Adelaide this year after first being hosted in the city in 2006. It will run until 4 June at the Adelaide Convention Centre.
McEvoy said ATE would help to boost the tourism industry’s recovery efforts this year and help businesses return to profitable growth.
“International travellers contribute billions to the Australian economy each year and help to generate employment for around half a million Australians,” he said.
“‘Last year global economic factors affected travel worldwide and while Australia held steady in terms of visitor numbers it was a challenging year for many tourism businesses.
“With improving economic conditions in many of our tourism source markets the timing of ATE, and our new global tourism campaign which will be launched at the event, couldn’t be better to ensure that Australia is top of mind with both the travel trade and consumers around the world.”
Buyers from around the world will be exposed over the coming week to a vast range of product and new developments: everything from Virgin Blue getting ready to fly to Ayers Rock to Hertz Australia adding two Mercedes Benz models to its fleet. Not to mention North Queensland’s only turtle hospital and swimming with tuna and sea lions off South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.
Written by Peter Needham
