A
Tourism Australia survey has revealed that seven out of ten people
(72%) who entered its 'Best Jobs in the World' competition are planning
to apply for an Australian working holiday visa, with four out of ten
(39%) seriously considering taking a working holiday within the next six
months.
The online survey was completed by nearly 15,000
of the 330,000 people who entered the global competition, aimed at
encouraging more young people to visit Australia under the country's
Working Holiday Maker (WHM) program.
Tourism Australia
Managing Director Andrew McEvoy said the results demonstrated that the
'Best Jobs in the World' competition was already having a positive
impact promoting Australia as a desirable holiday destination amongst
its key target market and, importantly, was also increasing awareness
and interest in Australia's Working Holiday Maker program.
"Whilst
much of the attention has focused on the six dream jobs, we shouldn't
forget the real purpose of this campaign - to inspire more young people
to come down under by increasing awareness and uptake of our Working
Holiday Maker program. Early indications, supported by these survey
results, indicate that we're ticking those boxes," Mr McEvoy said.
Eight
out of ten (81%) respondents said that they had already discussed
Australia as a working destination with friends and family as a direct
result of the 'Best Jobs' competition.
A similar number (78%)
of people said they had already researched Australia as a working
holiday destination, with 77% of them saying they'd also suggested
Australia to others as a working holiday destination.
Six
out of ten (61%) said they had already visited the Australian
immigration website (www.immi.gov.au) for more information on
Australia's working holiday maker program.
The 18
finalists - three for each of the six dream jobs - were unveiled on May
15, with the six winners due to be announced on June 21. Tourism
Australia received more than 620,000 applications from more than 330,000
people in 196 countries, with 46,000 applicants uploading their
30-second video.
Since the competition was launched,
Tourism Australia's working holiday maker Facebook page has nearly
trebled from 150,000 to 435,000 fans with young people around the world
actively seeking information about a working holiday in Australia. This
builds on Tourism Australia's more than four million general Facebook
fans - the largest destination Facebook site in the world.
Mr McEvoy said the campaign was already generating commercial benefits for the Australian tourism industry.
STA Travel,
one of the campaign's key partners, has already reported significant
increases in the sale of youth travel packages in its three largest
markets, which it has attributed directly to the competition - 100 per
cent year-on-year increase in the USA, 42 per cent in Germany and 17 per
cent in UK, during the campaign period.
Mr McEvoy said
around a third of the people who'd initially entered the competition had
agreed to receive additional information and offers about holidays in
Australia, while Australian based backpacker operators Base and YHA have seen a significant spike in bookings.
"Tourism
Australia will continue to capitalise on the enormous interest in this
campaign by working with our commercial partners such as STA Travel and Virgin Australia to sell holidays and working holidays to many of those who missed out on one of the six best jobs," he said.
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