TORONTO — Everything Canadian travellers want right now – Australia’s got it.

A friendly and welcoming destination that’s also safe and secure? Yes. Nature, wildlife and adventure galore? Of course. Top-notch dining and fine wine? That’s a given.

With so many timely selling points, Tourism Australia is hoping that its new campaign, ‘Come and say G’day’, resonates with Canadians – and Canadian travel advisors.

Tourism Australia’s new Managing Director, Robin Mack, knows a thing or two about the hard work that travel advisors do. After all, he was a travel agent himself back in the day. He also worked for several years at Qantas, and for the past 14 years he’s served in a number of roles for Tourism Australia.

Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures, WA (all destination images courtesy Journey Beyond)

Travelweek connected with Mack at last night’s industry event hosted by VoX International, which represents Tourism Australia in the Canadian market.

“I started my career as a travel agent,” said Mack. “We want them to be successful.”

Mack also said that when he was a travel advisor, “I could sell better when I knew the destination.” Tourism Australia’s Aussie Specialist Program for the retail travel trade has been around for some 35 years and it’s still going strong. More details about the program can be found here.

Australia is seeing strong numbers from Canada, with 171,000 visitors from this market heading Downunder in 2025, a 4% increase year over year.

The Ghan at Darwin

“We love hearing about the [Canadian travel] trend to longer haul travel, partially to Asia Pacific,” Mack told Travelweek.

The exchange rate is a boost in this market too, as Travelweek explored in an interview with Tourism Australia’s Chris Allison, VP, The Americas and New Zealand, also in attendance at last night’s event.

Honeymoon Tent, Sal Salis, Ningaloo Reef, WA

“We market ourselves as ‘Come and say G’day’, and that’s perfect because there’s such friendship between Australia and and Canada,” said Mack. “Our tourism proposition, we really believe it’s what the Canadian traveller is looking for. Canadians want safety and security, and value for money. Those are the big ones. Then there are the more emotional drivers: aquatic and coastal, wildlife, food and drink. We know we offer all of those.”

Asked for advice for travel agents looking to qualify potential Australia clients, Mack said: “Have you got a customer who’s looking to do something a bit different? Our target traveller is the high yielding traveller. They stay longer, they disperse more and they spend more.”

Reefsuite views, Reefworld, Great Barrier Reef, QLD

Mack noted that airfares to Australia “have normalized since the pandemic,” making the destination a bit easier on the wallet. From Canada there are 24 direct flights per week, including Vancouver-Sydney year-round with Qantas, and Sydney and Brisbane year-round with Air Canada, also from Vancouver. Air Canada partners with Virgin Australia, and Qantas has relaunched its Explorer product, offers up to 30% off for domestic flights with the purchase of an international ticket.

“We’re a long haul destination. We’re also a complex destination,” said Mack. “We’re a very big country with a diverse offering. So we really rely on on our travel advisor community to cut through that complexity. And we look at how we can support the retail travel community.”

Tourism Australia “is always looking to innovate” to help keep travel advisors in the loop and motivated to sell, he added. “Over a decade ago, we decided to really boost our travel agent support team. We now have 26 people around the world, including two in Canada, dedicated to training and support for travel advisors.”

The Ghan crossing Elizabeth River, NT

JOURNEY BEYOND

Tourism Australia isn’t the only Downunder faction wooing the Canadian market.

On Feb. 27, high-end travel company Journey Beyond paid a visit to Toronto, with a team headed by Executive General Manager – Marketing, Justine Lally. Journey Beyond’s beautiful brochure features Australia by Train product (The Ghan, Indian Pacific, Great Southern and The Overland), plus Outback Spirit, Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef, Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures and much more.

“Australia can be overwhelming. Seeing Australia by train is a fun and fabulous way to do it,” Lally shared with Travelweek.

Lead image caption: Tourism Australia’s Chris Allison, VP, The Americas and New Zealand (left) and Managing Director, Robin Mack (right) at 1 King West hotel in Toronto