Tourism Australia (TA) launched a two-year Premier Aussie Specialist Program (PASP) in Hong Kong last Friday, with the appointment of 10 travel agents to become destination specialists and advocates.
Appointment is by invitation only, and qualified individuals must fulfil various conditions, such as having undertaken at least three training opportunities in the last 12 months and no less than three years of experience in selling Australia to their market.
Each PASP participant is required to complete 11 courses – eight courses on state and territories, a sustainability course, and two courses in the Aboriginal Australia curriculum within two years.
TA manager for Hong Kong, Carmen Tam, said: “This membership is an acknowledgement of an agent’s destination expertise, insider knowledge, strong ties with the Australian travel industry, and established record of selling Australia. We hope to groom them to get closer to consumers and be our opinion leaders and advocates. Once they better understand their customers’ travel intentions, we can craft new products together.”
Tam shared that major outbound agencies like Jebsen Travel, Wing On Travel and Miramar Travel as well as “diverse players” like The Events Team, which is a specialist in business events and luxury travel, were invited to the PASP.
Hong Kong arrivals to Australia has been recovering rapidly since 2023. As of April 2024, there were 204,000 travellers from Hong Kong, equivalent to 65 per cent of pre-Covid numbers.
