Monday 4 November 2013

Tourism Australia Appoints New Country Manager for South Korea

Tourism Australia has confirmed the appointment of a new Country Manager for South Korea, its eighth largest international inbound market, worth A$1.2 billion in visitor spend in 2012.

Scott Walker commences his new Seoul-based role immediately.

Mr Walker is Australian-born and fluent in Korean, having studied, lived and worked in the country for the past seven years.

He joins Tourism Australia from Australia’s vitamin and health supplement brand, Blackmores, where he was Country Manager South Korea. Prior to that he worked for Australian Education International and Austrade, roles also based in Korea. Before moving to South Korea, Mr Walker spent five years working in the Australian travel industry.

Tourism Australia Managing Director Andrew McEvoy said Mr Walker was an experienced marketeer, with significant Australian travel industry experience as well a deep understanding of the region, making him ideally suited to the new role.

“Scott has an obvious passion for the country and combined with his extensive experience of the market will be a valuable bridge between the Australian and Korean travel industries” he said.

Mr Walker reports to Andrew Reilly, Tourism Australia’s recently appointed Regional General Manager for Japan and South Korea.

“Tourism Australia boasts a long commitment to South Korea and has been notable for many tourism firsts, including being the first national tourism organisation to broadcast a national tourism ad on Korean television. The appointment of an experienced, Korean speaking Australian Country Manager like Scott represents another important milestone and I’m delighted to welcome him to the team,” Mr Reilly said.

South Korea represents Australia’s eighth largest inbound visitor market, delivering 196,800 arrivals and contributing A$1.2 billion in spend in 2012. The Tourism 2020 Strategy estimates that the South Korean market has the potential to grow to between A$2.8 billion and A$3.4 billion in total expenditure by 2020.

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