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A new partnership launched yesterday between Tourism Australia and the country’s foremost arts and cultural attractions, will see Australia go all out to attract “high-value international visitors seeking bespoke and premium tourism experiences” – people who pay an average of AUD 10,000 a trip.

The partnership is called Cultural Attractions of Australia. Partners include the Adelaide Oval, Arts Centre Melbourne, Australian War Memorial, Australian Parliament House, Fremantle Prison, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Mona (Museum of Old and New Art), National Anzac Centre, National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Opera Australia, Port Arthur Historic Site, Qantas Founders Museum Longreach, Sovereign Hill, Sydney Opera House and WA Maritime Museum.

The initiative has its own website: https://culturalattractionsofaustralia.com/

Launching Cultural Attractions of Australia yesterday, Australia’s Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Simon Birmingham, said Cultural Attractions of Australia would help lure more high-value travellers and drive visitation to some of Australia’s most famous arts and cultural attractions, offering visitors a premium, “behind the scenes” experience.

“This industry-led initiative is the perfect way to engage international visitors looking for a premium tourism offering while exploring Australia’s distinctive cultural and heritage attractions in areas, such as film; performing arts; visual art; Indigenous art and culture; literature; music; entertainment; and sport,” Birmingham said.

“Australia has a long list of arts and cultural attractions and these unique experiences will allow visitors to immerse themselves in Australian history, life and culture in ways that have never been offered before.

“Some of our most famous cultural attractions including the National Gallery of Australia, Sovereign Hill and the Melbourne Cricket Ground will feature in a program of 22 bespoke tourism experiences.

“Experiences under the program range from a private tour of the National Gallery of Victoria, to walking onto a production set at the Sydney Opera House all the way through to an exclusive dinner at MONA in Hobart.

“Cultural tourism is on the rise, with three in every 10 international visitors to Australia now visiting a museum or gallery. Through our vast array of cultural attractions and initiatives such as this one that target the high value traveller, we have huge potential to grow this very lucrative segment of the market.

“We know high value travellers splash the cash when they holiday with the average traveller spending AUD 10,000 per trip. That’s an extra AUD 10,000 per traveller being injected into the Australian economy.

“As a government, we recognise the huge potential of the high value traveller and the value to the economy, and that’s why we’re backing this program and current Tourism Australia campaigns such as UnDiscover Australia that specifically target high value travellers from South-East Asia, Britain and Japan.”

The Cultural Attractions of Australia collective joins seven others within the Signature Experiences of Australia program including wineries, luxury lodges, golf courses, walks, Aboriginal guided experiences, fishing adventures and wildlife.

Tourism Australia works with each of the collectives to provide strategic marketing advice and PR support; integration into key trade activities both overseas and in Australia including the Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE); inclusion in Tourism Australia’s International Media Hosting Program.

Edited by Peter Needham