Qantas and NSW Government Announce Landmark Partnership

Qantas and the NSW Government have announced a new $30 million partnership to promote Sydney and regional NSW to the world.

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell and Qantas Group Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce signed the three-year agreement at Qantas' facilities at Sydney Airport today, marking the largest tourism and major events marketing partnership in the State's history.

Premier O'Farrell said the deal involved Qantas matching the NSW Government dollar for dollar to attract more international visitors particularly from the United States, United Kingdom, Continental Europe, China, South-East Asia, Japan and New Zealand.

"Nothing says Australia more than the unmistakeable red tail with the flying kangaroo and the home of Qantas is right here in Sydney," Mr O'Farrell said.

"This partnership with Qantas is the cornerstone of our strategy to increase tourism to NSW, providing a boost to our economy and helping to create more jobs.

"We will be aggressively targeting big spending leisure and business travellers from overseas which will be a boon for our hotels, restaurants and retail sector.

"This will build on our standing as the nation's leader for international visitation and expenditure and the preferred destination for key emerging markets.

"We understand the importance of tourism to the State's economy - that's why we're building a new convention and entertainment precinct at Darling Harbour and investing in partnerships like this with iconic brands like Qantas."

Mr Joyce said the time was right to elevate the partnership between Qantas and Destination NSW to a higher level.

"Qantas is Australia's national airline, flying from Sydney to every continent on earth and to every corner of Australia," Mr Joyce said.

"Sydney is the gateway to Australia with more than 50 per cent of all international visitors to Australia arriving at Sydney Airport so it's fitting this is the largest partnership we have ever entered into with a State Government.

"We have seen a fantastic and tangible response to work we have done with Destination NSW in the past and we think working more closely will result in more people visiting NSW and flying Qantas."

The partnership - which sees both the NSW Government and Qantas invest $15 million each over the three years - will include international advertising and marketing campaigns, marketing activities around major events and joint public relations activities. There will be a strong focus on digital platforms including online and social media.

Destination NSW and Qantas are finalising preparations for the initial joint campaigns under the partnership, which are expected to commence in September in multiple markets.

The partnership will also have a strong domestic component, designed at encouraging more Australians to visit NSW and the regions for business and leisure travel.

Tourism and Major Events Minister George Souris said he was delighted that the State had secured the landmark deal, making Qantas the major airline partner of Destination NSW.

"Qantas operations are based in Sydney, is our national airline and is the biggest private investor in tourism promotion in Australia by a long way," Minister Souris said.

"This new partnership will give us unprecedented opportunities to leverage the marketing assets of both organisations to deliver on the Government's goal of doubling overnight visitor expenditure by 2020. We are looking forward to achieving even greater success over the next three years."

In 2012, Qantas brought 1.2 million visitors to Sydney - around double any other airline.

Qantas services 20 international destinations from Sydney and Qantas together with its airline partners including Emirates service over 150 global destinations from Sydney.