The Territory will be well represented at the largest international travel trade show in the southern hemisphere this week, with 27 tourism businesses from the NT registered to attend.

The annual Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) is Australia’s premier tourism trade event and will be held in the Gold Coast for the first time from 15-19 May.

Organised by Tourism Australia, ATE brings Australian tourism businesses together with airlines, tourism wholesalers, travel media and retailers from around the world. 

“We are extremely pleased with the strong contingent of NT operators attending this year’s ATE event, which helps to reinforce Tourism NT’s focus on getting our product operators to the fore in being the best promotors of our destination.” said Tourism NT CEO, Tony Mayell.

“There are also four NT tourism businesses attending for the first time this year which is further recognition of the commitment our operators have to the industry.”

The NT exhibitors represent all regions in the Northern Territory from Darwin to Katherine, Kakadu, Arnhem Land, Alice Springs and Uluru.

The four day event gives our local operators the opportunity to showcase their products, gather market intelligence to develop new and improved experiences, meet with international buyers and negotiate new contracts.

ATE will help raise the profile of our Northern Territory operators globally, with a further 25 national tourism companies showcasing NT products and experiences during the week. The event will encourage operators to remain competitive and continue to strive for excellence and innovation.

Mr Mayell said the Northern Territory’s successful Million Dollar Fish campaign will also be promoted at the event during a special presentation by Tourism Australia on its current Aquatic and Coastal campaign.

“Currently around 315,000 international visitors each year undertake fishing during their trip to Australia,” said Mr Mayell

“The Northern Territory offers unbeatable fishing opportunities and it is currently a largely untapped visitor market. ATE will be a great opportunity for us to further promote Season 2 of the Million Dollar Fish campaign, which kicks off later this year.”

The Northern Territory stand at ATE will bring a taste of the NT all the way to the east coast, serving up frozen mango slushies along with mango ice cream from Top End based supplier Crazy Acres Mango Farm & Cafe.

ATE is an initiative to drive the development of North Australia and build a $2.2 billion visitor economy by 2020.

ENDS

Media Contact: Melanie Mutch, Corporate Media and Communications Manager +61 401 115 634