Virtuosos have been challenged to think “differently” and “more deeply” about Australia’s diversity for their clients putting off a holiday down under by Tourism Australia’s Managing Director, Phillipa Harrison.
“The Australian luxury offering is distinctive and it’s diverse. It’s about a sense of place and a rarity of access to our unique and truly beautiful environments,” Harrison told delegates at Virtuoso Travel Week‘s Opening Session last Sunday in Las Vegas.“We know that your client’s concept of luxury is evolving and they are asking you for more tailored and personalised experiences. Our recent research in partnership with Virtuoso confirms that Australia remains high on your clients’ priority list,” she said.
Harrison took to the stage at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino to the re-worked version of Men at Works’ anthem Land Down Under by Aboriginal band King Stingray, and threw in a little kangaroo hop that she’d borrowed from Professor Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn’s now infamous break routine from the Paris Olympics.
And while more than 13,400kms away from Australian shores, she paid respects to the traditional custodians of Australia – the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, which itself earned applause from the thousands of delegates attending the Opening Session.
Harrison said that as she travels the world as Tourism Australia’s leader, the guests she encounters abroad often say they’d love to visit Australia, “but it is too far away”.
“Australia is distant, but it is that distance that has created a truly unique environment that it is today.”
“And with new routes and technology, distance isn’t what it used to be,” she said, highlighting there are now more nonstop flights from Europe – through Qantas and its ultra-long-haul Dreamliner routes to London, Rome and Paris routes from Perth) – and the US “than ever before”.“In fact, from where I’m standing right now,” she said, “I can be in Sydney in about the same time I can be in Rome.”
“So the real challenge in my mind is isn’t that Australia is distant but the many guests just don’t know what is waiting for them at the end of the flight.”
The TA boss of 7.5 years said the most popular destinations on visitors’ wish lists are to see the Great Barrier Reef, the Outback and the Sydney Opera House.
“I invite them to experience those spectacular places and many beyond in ways that provide the luxury of exclusive access, personalised encounters and deep connections with what makes Australia distinctively Australian.”
She used examples of the Burrawa – Aboriginal Climb Experience on the Sydney BridgeClimb, an activity that educates guests on the significance of the land on which the Sydney Opera House stands, ancient languages and customs, and Aboriginal culture.
“Your clients will feel deeply connected to our land at the start of their Australian travel story,” she said.Harrison also spoke of Australia’s “famous flat white coffees, silky Pinot Noir, or a Sydney Rock Oyster – flavours that are just a sample of the wonderful tastes of Australia. Meeting the makers, the growers, the culinary artisans that make the flavours even more memorable.”“In Tasmania, I invite your guests to see Giles entrepreneur and oyster farmer, to don a pair of waders and walk out into the Bay, into the pure air, light and water of Tasmania, learning about oyster farming before shucking and eating local oysters fresh from the water.”
Another example was staying at the luxury lodge of Longitude 131 at Uluru.
“No image can truly capture snuggling into a swag… under the expanse of the Milky Way as the moonlight dancers on Uluru,” she said as spectacular images of the Longitude 131 experience overtook the screens behind her. “This truly is the spiritual heart of Australia.”
Her suggestion of recommending clients experience the kangaroos and canapés concept at the revived Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island, which re-opend last December, also earned applause from the amassed Virtuosos.
“I’m asking you to think a bit differently about Australia. But what I hope is that I’ve inspired you to think a bit more deeply about Australia too, because there really is nothing like it.”
“I ask you, when you get back home and have clients with Australia on their list, start a conversation,” she concluded.
