As the year pulls to a close, the Australian Export Tourism Council (ATEC) has marked its successes and outlined its key achievements in supporting industry businesses to get back to market including advocacy for continued industry recovery support, facilitating over 16,000 business to business meetings and providing scores of training opportunities across the country.
In a year when the industry is still working to regain lost ground, ATEC has delivered an extensive suite of opportunities and positioning for its members from advocating for the retention of the three-year working holiday maker program—a critical contributor to the tourism industry’s essential labour force – numerous government submissions, active media engagement and building collaboration with likeminded associations in NZ, Ireland, Europe, the UK, US, and South Africa.
“ATEC’s recent Meeting Place event in Adelaide really showed us the resilience and vitality of our export tourism industry with over 550 delegates coming together to re-establish the business relationships that make our industry strong,” ATEC Managing Director Peter Shelley says.
“This off the back of local B2B events held across the country throughout the year, which saw our members take part in over 16,000 appointments between buyers and sellers and ATEC’s collaboration with State and Regional Tourism Organisations (STOs and RTOs) and Tourism Australia in delivering a range of industry focused opportunities.”
Mr Shelley said ATEC, is committed to providing high-quality, targeted, and market-relevant training opportunities for the export sector, having delivered 1,117 course completions and certificates issued to training graduates though the Tourism Training Hub, including Tourism Trade Ready, Host programs for key markets like China, India, Indonesia and specialist segments including Muslim, Accessible & Inclusive, as well as delivering training on Digital Marketing and business sustainability.
In 2023, 11 regional cohorts and two STOs worked with ATEC to enhance the commercial advantage of their tourism businesses to collectively drive international visitors to their regions though the Tourism Training Hub programs and in 2024 ATEC will expand this offering with the launch of Japan Host, Korea Host as well as a much-requested China Guide Ready program.
Moving into 2024, the Annual General Meeting held on 12 December 2023 saw the election of ATEC’s National Board in which Fiona Stillwell, Chief Commercial Officer at Experience Co was elected to the Board as a Supplier member along with Western Australian Indigenous Tourism Operators Council’s, Robert Taylor.
Stepping down form the board after completing three successive terms of 2 years (the maximum allowable) was Ben Woodward of The CaPTA Group. ATEC Chairman Denis Piece thanked Ben for his outstanding contribution across the six years, highlighting his active engagement across all issues and his ever-present support of North Queensland as a destination and its members.
The ATEC National Board includes:
Independent Chairman
Denis Pierce
Managing Director
Peter Shelley
Deputy Chair & Seller Representative
Richard Doyle – General Manager Global Sales & Distribution, SeaLink Marine & Tourism
Seller Representatives
Shahnaz Bakhshay – Global Sales Officer, TFE Hotels
Fiona Stillwell – Chief Commercial Officer, Experience Co
Buyer Representatives
Birgit Bourne – Managing Director, Insight Australia Travel
Christopher Teh – Managing Partner, Australia and Beyond Holidays
Kathy Turner – General Manager, Goway Travel
Co-opted Board Member
Robert Taylor – CEO, Western Australian Indigenous Tourism Operators Council (WAITOC)
