Key facts

• The event was designed to capitalise on the recent introduction of the Australian 12 month Work and Holiday visa for young Americans.
• Tourism Australia has teamed up with the hit TV and cultural ‘movement’ Roadtrip Nation to host an Australian ‘festival’ at California’s second largest college campus, California State University Polytechnic Pomona during its annual G’Day USA events.

Key quotes

• "Australia has long been extremely popular with Americans of all ages but unlike many of their European counter-parts their opportunities to travel Down Under for extended periods have been limited by their inability to supplement their travel with a bit of work. This is really a tremendous opportunity for Australia to build some life-long relationships with a new market segment in the US,"
• "If you want to reach the media-savvy, and advertising-cynical student/youth market, you really need to be imaginative and you need to be authentic. Our partnership with Roadtrip Nation (RTN) is a perfect fit, " Geoff Buckley, Managing Director, Tourism Australia.

Full story

Tourism Australia used its annual G’Day USA events to entice young Americans to Australia for working holidays or extended vacations.

Tourism Australia teamed up with the hit TV and cultural ‘movement’ Roadtrip Nation to host an Australian ‘festival’ at California’s second largest college campus, California State University Polytechnic Pomona.

The ‘festival’ included performances by Perth band Eskimo Joe, appearances by world champion surfer Layne Beachley and ‘Transformers’ star Rachael Taylor, as well as booths for the States and Territories to target the youth market.

Tourism Australia Managing Director, Geoff Buckley said the event was designed to capitalise on the recent introduction of the Australian 12 month Work and Holiday visa for young Americans.

“Australia has long been extremely popular with Americans of all ages, and particularly young Americans,” he said. “But, unlike many of their European counter-parts their opportunities to travel Down Under for extended periods have been limited by their inability to supplement their travel with a bit of work.

“This is really a tremendous opportunity for Australia to build some life-long relationships with a new market segment in the US.”

Mr Buckley said Tourism Australia had formed a partnership with Roadtrip Nation, a multi-media social ‘movement’ which encourages young people to use road-trips to find their own path in life.

“If you want to reach the media-savvy, and advertising-cynical student/youth market, you really need to be imaginative and you need to be authentic. Our partnership with Roadtrip Nation (RTN) is a perfect fit.

“They are all about promoting the benefits of travel as an aid to self-discovery for young people trying to decide what to do with their careers and their lives.

“Australia has always offered that sort of transformative experience and when we approached RTN to talk about bringing their online activity and TV show to Australia they agreed with our belief that Australia had something to offer their audience and leapt at the chance.”

In 2007 three groups of RTN roadtrippers travelled Down Under blogging all the way and interviewing a myriad of well-known and ordinary Australians about their own career choices. In the next month or so the RTN TV crew will shoot their annual TV series in Australia which airs to more than 100 million homes across the US on the national PBS broadcasting network.

“RTN also boasts an extensive network of events across US college campuses so we’ve joined forces for this G’Day USA event at CSU Pomona,” Mr Buckley said.

Tourism Australia is a founding partner in G’Day USA. G’Day USA is produced by the Los Angeles and New York offices of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Tourism Australia, Austrade and Qantas Airways.