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"Down Under" Comes Up
May 06, 2008
Tourism Australia Partners with Maritz
By Alex Palmer
Tourism Australia has partnered with St. Louis–based incentive house Maritz, as part of an effort to expand the corporate meeting and incentive business coming into Australia.
The partnership is a first for both Tourism Australia and Maritz, and will include direct mail efforts to top incentive clients as well as familiarization trips. It will also include an Australian Incentive Roadshow in June, where Tourism Australia will visit Minneapolis, Dallas and San Francisco to spread the word about the destination's offerings.
Michelle Gysberts, Tourism Australia's vice president, Americas, describes the partnership as an opportunity to leverage each of the companies' respective strengths off of each other.
"If you can work with people that can provide the audience and you can provide the experience, you've got a pretty good formula," says Gysberts. "Maritz is familiar with the destination, has a well-recognized profile in the corporate market and a great client base, which makes them a perfect partner."
Gysberts believes now is a good time to remind the American market of what Australia has to offer. Besides the fact that the dollar can stretch farther there than in Europe, there are a huge number of incentive travel draws, from stargazing on Ayers Rock (the biggest monolith in the world) to attending the Sydney Opera House (and getting the group backstage for a truly special event). And of course if it's Australia, there should be some interaction with the wildlife—watching kangaroos or cuddling koalas.
"There's so much there, depending on what they're trying to achieve, whether it's a customer loyalty incentive, a staff reward incentive, a product launch or whether to [appeal to] certain age groups," says Gysberts.
Maritz operates more than 2,900 programs per year with more than 350,000 participants. Joint activities in the one-year deal will include, joint sales calls and increased visibility throughout Maritz's top incentive accounts.
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