03 June 2009

Tourism Australia to boost Australian travel visa scheme

Tourism Australia will launch a new marketing campaign set to bring more international businessmen on an Australian travel visa to the country.

While the campaign will not explicitly market the short-term Australian travel visa to internationals, it will focus on making Australia a prime destination for business events, conferences and meetings.

A familiarisation program will be run for international buyers so that they can have a taste-tester of Australia's global business events market, plus the recent marketing campaign Dreamtime will find its place in a trade incentive showcase. 

According to Geoff Buckley, managing director of Tourism Australia, Australia needs to step up its competition in the international business arena and encourage more people to use the Australian travel visa scheme, particularly while the Aussie dollar is creating a favourable exchange rate for many other businesses.

"The innovative trade marketing program would address the decline in business arrivals and promote Australia as an aspirational destination that offers value for money in the current climate," Buckley said in a statement.

Short-term arrivals for business purposes have two options under the Australia travel visa category; the short-stay business visa (ETA) and long-validity business visa (ETA).  The short-stay business visa is valid for a maximum stay in Australia of three months, while the long-validity business visa allows multiple visits of up to three months for as long as one's passport is valid.

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The Australian Visa Bureau is an independent consulting company specialising in helping people with their Australian travel visa.