Hobart set for Australia's largest tourism conference

With economic pundits proclaiming the beginning of the end of the Global Financial Crisis, tourism businesses now need to get on-board the recovery - and this will be a major focus of Australia's biggest tourism conference, to be held in Hobart next week.
The Australian Tourism Export Council's (ATEC) Symposium 2010 conference will bring more than 500 chief executives and managing directors, inbound tourism operators, politicians, public servants, tourism product suppliers and other major tourism-industry decision-makers to Hobart from 20th to 23rd April.
ATEC Managing Director Matt Hingerty said that Hobart was a wonderful location to host Symposium 2010 as it was rapidly becoming an in-demand destination for international tourists from all over the globe.
Hingerty explains "Tasmania has been a good-news story for us all in an otherwise ordinary period for tourism.
"Both the inbound and domestic market is up into Tasmania, and investors look with confidence at the opportunities available in and around Hobart."
"This year's Symposium conference is of special relevance to anyone involved in the tourism sector," Mr Hingerty said. "There is a real feeling of optimism in the air these days. Former Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive George Hickton will explain how he built the most successful tourism brand of the past decade, Tourism Australia's new Managing Director Andrew McEvoy will outline his focus for TA's future, we'll have Federal Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson, and we'll have a panel of experts lead a master-class on the Australian aviation sector."
"The industry is also slowly starting to see signs that the effects of the Global Financial Crisis are easing in our key overseas markets - Symposium will help delegates position themselves to profit from he expected upswing in demand and tourist numbers in years to come."
Hingerty said that 139,000 international visitors visited Hobart last year, spending 2.7 million nights in the area and injecting $274 million into the local economy during their stay.
This year's two-day ATEC Symposium conference program features the theme 'Becoming more dynamic'. Speaker topics include 'Building a Brand', 'A new decade - a new outlook', 'Aviation 101 - everything you wanted to know about aviation but were afraid to ask', 'Driving dispersal - developing the road well travelled', and 'Distribution - you can't stop progress'.
A series of market-specific breakout sessions, as well as a full-day Backpacker and Youth Industry conference will also be held concurrently by ATEC.
A key element of the conference will be pre- and post-conference familiarisation tours of the region for inbound agents.
"ATEC is proud to be bringing Australian inbound tour operators to Hobart," Hingerty adds "the city has a long colonial history, many fascinating historical monuments and sites to visit, while its reputation as a world-beating food-and-wine destination puts it at the forefront of must-see experiences for foreign travellers coming to Australia."
"ATEC would like to thank key sponsors Qantas and Tourism Tasmania for their support. Their foresight is a large part of Symposium's continued success."

http://www.atec.net.au/symposium.html