Southern Great Barrier Reef Shines at ATE24!
Posted on May 28th, 2024
The Southern Great Barrier Reef brought the warmth and beauty of Queensland to the heart of a chilly Melbourne winter last week at the 44th Australian Tourism Exchange 2024 (ATE24) following the ATE International Media Marketplace (IMM), with the two events collectively hosting more than 2,660 international and Australian based industry, who participated in over 50,000 meetings over five days (Sunday 19th to Thursday 23rd May)!
ATE24 is Australia’s premier annual tourism sales event delivered by Tourism Australia and supported by all state tourism organisations and additional supporting partners, attracting over 1500 Australian sellers’ delegates and 700 buyer delegates from more than 30 countries across the globe. The week of sales meetings and networking is a highlight in the annual tourism calendar, presenting an opportunity for our Southern Great Barrier Reef (SGBR) operators to present their tourism offerings to a global audience, particularly to our western markets including Europe/UK, America and New Zealand.
The double Southern Great Barrier Reef booth, represented by the three Regional Tourism Organisations (Capricorn Enterprise, Gladstone Area Promotion and Development and Bundaberg Tourism), provided an opportunity for tourism trade mentees who were attending ATE for the first time on days passes (Reef Distillers, Mantra Gladstone, 1770 Dive Spear & Snorkel, 1770 Reef Great Barrier Reef Tours, Kalki Moon Distilling Co.), while previous mentees and operators invested in their own booths and appointment schedules. A huge thank you to those operators who helped make our representation a record 13 booths from the SGBR plus our state and national brands exhibiting elsewhere at the event!
Capricorn Coast region, SGBR
Great Keppel Island Hideaway
Empire/Edge Apartment Hotels
Funtastic Cruises and Keppel Dive (first time booth)
Freedom Fast Cats (first time booth)
Koorana Crocodile Farm (first time booth)
Breeze Holiday Parks (featuring Carnarvon Gorge, Cania Gorge and Bargara)
Gladstone region, SGBR
1770 Larc! Tours
Aldesta – Heron and Wilson Islands
Bundaberg region, SGBR
Lady Elliot Island
Taribelang Bunda Cultural Tours (first time booth)
Lady Musgrave Experience
Also representing properties across the SGBR were our colleagues from Dreamtime Resorts (Stay Yeppoon; (Salt, Echelon, Beaches on Lammermoor) and The Point Resort Bargara), Central Apartment Group (Rockhampton Riverside, 4 properties in Gladstone, 1770 Lagoons Resort, Emerald) and Anita Clarke Tourism (representing Hedlow Retreat).
Reef Distillers Yeppoon partnered with Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ) to showcase their local gin and vodka products at the Queensland happy hour on Wednesday evening.
Brisbane has been announced to host ATE25 from Monday 28th April to Thursday 1st May.
The SGBR acknowledges funding from Austrade’s Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) program, a fund that supports Australian businesses to grow their exports in international markets.
