Wednesday 12 June 2013

The NSW Best Job in the World - Chief Funster Finalists Touch Down in Sydney

Brittany Macleod
The Top Three finalists in the running for the Best Job in the World – the NSW Chief Funster – have touched down in Sydney to commence the final stage of the selection process. Andrew Smith and Brittany MacLeod from the USA join Holly Easterbrook from the UK to contest the coveted six-month role with Destination NSW, the NSW Government’s tourism and major events agency.

Sandra Chipchase, Destination NSW CEO has welcomed the finalists to Sydney revealing details of the challenges the three Funsters will face over the four-day NSW Challenge period in Sydney and Regional NSW.

“We’re delighted to welcome to Sydney the Top Three applicants for the Chief Funster role for what will be the most challenging and exciting phase of the selection process yet. This is their chance to get hands on and experience what is involved in being Destination NSW’s Chief Funster,” she said.

“Challenge highlights include a rare and exclusive Behind the Scenes experience with Bangarra Dance Company at Sydney Opera House, one of the most iconic arts and cultural venues in the world. Plus Bangarra Artistic Director Stephen Page will personally meet the finalists and brief them on the significance of Bangarra to Australian culture,” she said.

“This will be followed by a visit to Pacha Sydney for a red carpet evening of extravagance with the world’s leading Creative Director Ignatius Jones, who is also Destination NSW’s Creative Advisor for the Vivid Sydney Festival.”

The Chief Funster finalists will then travel to Port Stephens on the NSW Central Coast, with a crew from MTV Australia, to film a segment for www.mtvtravelco.com focussing on the regions “Hotspots” profiled to MTV’s 150 million global Facebook fans and online networks. Some of the soft adventure activities planned include quad biking, sandboarding, swimming with dolphins, parasailing and horse riding.

Returning to Sydney the finalists will spend the evening with local Sydney Funster and media celebrity Shelly Horton who will provide them with some vital local knowledge and tips, before they attend the 2014 FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifier – Australia vs Iraq at Sydney Olympic Park - with four local “friends” they have to invite through social media.

The announcement of the winner will take place in Sydney on Friday 21 June with Destination NSW CEO Sandra Chipchase set to reveal the lucky candidate who will relocate to Sydney to take up the role.

“We’re looking for several key attributes when we’re judging these three young people as they complete the challenges including:

1) How they showcase and communicate their experiences through social media including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter;
2) The level of engagement and influence they are generating on social media;
3) Writing and media presentation skills; and
4) Their interaction and engagement with key industry partners.

“I wish all three candidates the best of luck as they complete the challenge and encourage everyone to follow their adventures through social media,” said Ms Chipchase.

Follow the Chief Funster adventures at:

Facebook: facebook.com/chieffunsterNSW
Twitter: twitter.com/chieffunsterNSW
Instagram: Instagram.com/chieffunsterNSW
#ChiefFunster; #SeeSydney; #NSWGetaways

“This is a fun competition designed to deliver what is a very focused outcome – to double overnight visitor expenditure by 2020. With the youth market an important contributor, the Chief Funster will be promoting travel to Sydney and Regional NSW,” Ms Chipchase added.

Tourism Australia’s ‘Best Jobs in the World’ competition was launched in March, and is part of a campaign to promote tourism opportunities provided by Australia’s Working Holiday Maker (WHM) program. Applicants chose from six jobs from states across Australia, with NSW’s Chief Funster receiving 124,000 applications, the highest number of any state in Australia.

In the year ended March 2013, NSW received 196,600 WHM visitors or 66.9% of total WHM visitors to Australia, the most of any State, and 30.8% of WHM nights. WHM travellers contributed 6.7% of visitors and 21.3% of nights in the State. The average length of stay in NSW by WHM visitors was 74.1 nights spending $778.3 million in the State (incl package expenditure). This represented 30.8% of total WHM expenditure in Australia. WHM visitors spent over 14.6 million nights in the State.

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