CANBERRA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The 46th edition of the Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE), the Australian tourism industry's largest annual business-to-business (B2B) event, kicked off on Monday in Adelaide, South Australia.
Running from Sunday to Thursday at the Adelaide Convention Centre, this year's ATE marks the fourth time the city has hosted the event.
"We have more organizations here for buyers and sellers than ever before, and that just gives us a search opportunity and hope for the future sustainable growth of tourism in Australia," said Robin Mack, managing director of Tourism Australia (TA), at the opening ceremony on Monday.
About 730 international buyers and travel agents converged here to meet with 1,400 Australian industry representatives from 674 tourism organizations over the next four days, according to the media release on Monday.
"We are all about giving our Chinese travelers a wonderful experience that they'll remember for a lifetime," Nick Henderson, regional general manager of Greater China at TA, said, adding that for the buyers, based on the needs of the Chinese market, to be able to meet and speak to companies to provide experiences and products that meet the needs of the Chinese market is really important.
The tourism industry contributes significantly to Australia's economy, supporting more than 700,000 jobs and sustaining around 300,000 businesses across the country, said the release. ■
