Gold Coast to host Corroboree Asia 2018

I am pleased to announce the Gold Coast will host Tourism Australia's 2018 Corroboree Asia event.

This is the first time the Gold Coast has hosted the biennial trade event, which brings together more than 100 Australian tourism operators to meet with around 300 qualified Aussie Specialist agents from priority Asian markets, including Greater China, Japan, Korea, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

Qualified Aussie Specialists are all frontline travel sellers who work with the Australian tourism industry and routinely sell Australian tourism product within their markets.

Hosted in partnership with Gold Coast Tourism and Tourism and Events Queensland, the event will take place from 26 to 31 August 2018 and will be followed by five-day familiarisation trips around the country.

Corroboree Asia is Tourism Australia's leading agent training event providing a business, educational and social environment for agents who will have the opportunity to experience a range of travel experiences on offer on the Gold Coast and across Australia.

This helps to encourage agents to become true advocates of Australia and sell our country with confidence.

Strong international visitor numbers and growth in spend reflects a continued demand among travellers for Australian tourism experiences. In the 12 months to September 2017, Australia welcomed 8 million international visitors who spent over $41 billion.

The Gold Coast saw a 4.2 per cent growth in international visitation to a record 1.1 million over the same period.

The inaugural Corroboree Asia held in 2016 in Perth resulted in a 98 per cent satisfaction rate among agents, with 100 per cent of them saying the event increased their ability to sell Australia.

The Turnbull Coalition Government recognises tourism as a major pillar of the Australian economy and accounts for a significant portion of Australian jobs, that's why we are providing record funding to Tourism Australia.