Best Job in the World initiative hiring across Australia

Tourism Australia is teaming up with industry and State and Territory tourism partners in a new $4 million campaign targeting the international youth market - a segment which last year contributed nearly $12 billion in tourism spending and a quarter of all Australia's international visitors.

At the heart of the campaign is a global competition involving six of Australia's State and Territory Tourism Organisations - each offering their own unique 'Best Job in the World' as a winning prize.

Expanding on Tourism Queensland'shighly successful 'Best Job in the World' campaign in 2009, the competition has been unveiled by Federal Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson and Ben Southall the successful winner of the 2009 campaign.

The 'Best Jobs in the World' initiative is part of a major international marketing push which will focus upon promoting tourism opportunities provided by Australia's Working Holiday Maker (WHM) program.

The campaign will target travellers between 18 and 30 years of age in Australia and overseas, with particular focus on international markets eligible for an Australian working holiday visas, including the UK and Ireland, the US and Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.

The six 'Best Jobs in the World' each come with an attractive six month salary package worth $100,000 including living costs and are:

• Chief Funster (New South Wales)
• Vutback Adventurer (Northern Territory)
• Park Ranger (Queensland)
• Wildlife Caretaker (South Australia)
• Lifestyle Photographer (Melbourne, Victoria)
• Taste Master (Western Australia).

Tourism Australia Managing Director Andrew McEvoy said the competition provided an excellent platform to entice more young people from around the world to come to Australia to holiday, but also to work, helping to fill many unfilled tourism jobs across Australia, a key challenge for the industry.

McEvoy explained "we've taken one of the most successful tourism campaigns in recent times - 'Best Job in the World' - and made it bigger and better by coming up with a competition which represents the very best of our country - our breath-taking landscapes and scenery, our unique nature and wildlife, great food and wine and, of course, our huge sense of fun."

McEvoy said the competition was expected to appeal to youth travellers' sense of fun and adventure, adding "the youth market contributes more than a quarter of all Australia's international arrivals. These are visitors who tend to stay longer, disperse widely and often come back again, with their families, later in their lives. For many young people, Australia's working holiday visa programs provide the economic means to fund travel plans, and this is at the heart of our new campaign.

"Despite recent challenges - such as the high Australian dollar and the global financial crisis affecting some of Australia's traditional Western markets the youth traveller segment remains an important part of Australia's visitor mix."

The youth segment contributes $12 billion annually in total tourism spending and delivers nearly 1.6 million (26%) of Australia's international arrivals. On average, youth travellers spend $7,279 per trip in Australia (International Visitor Survey: September 2012).

In 2012, Working Holiday Makers contributed $2.5 billion to the Australian economy. On average WHMs spend in excess of $13,000 during their stay.

McEvoy concluded "this is a wonderful chance to reinforce and amplify our 'There's Nothing Like Australia' message that Australia is a wonderful, world class destination full of unique experiences, adventure and great places to explore."

For more information go to www.australia.com/bestjobs 

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