Australia Global Reps

Trade & Media Engagement

Trade activity centered on Helloworld, including a Route 66 Missouri webinar with 21 registrations and training for its reservations team. Travel Managers promoted four Southern music itineraries, from Nashville–New Orleans journeys to an Elvis and Dolly tour. TripaDeal and TravelUSA.co.nz featured packages spanning Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, Missouri and the Carolinas. The trade newsletter achieved a 38.85% open rate.

Travel Monitor and Where Wild Things Roam covered Travel South’s nine road trip routes for 2027, giving every partner state exposure. Additional coverage included a hosted New Orleans feature, a Canberra Times piece on Nashville’s Dolly Parton exhibition, and an Escape guide to Deep South tours. Five media meetings, including one with Broadsheet, opened new story leads.

Market Trends & Travel Demand

Australian arrivals to the USA fell 11% in August, but Travel South held its 5% share of first intended addresses. A rate rise, 4% inflation and a softer dollar are making Australians more value-conscious. New Qantas Las Vegas service and expanded premium cabins on US routes support demand.

Key Takeaways & Next Steps

Takeaways:

• Road trip and music themes are generating broad coverage for all partners.
• Agents remain trusted: one in four Australians are more likely to use one because of AI.

Next steps:

• Luxury Escapes reservations training (October 8) and Visit USA New Zealand regional shows
• October newsletters, media famil requests and GMM targeting

Public relations was a particular standout, generating 270 earned articles and 94.4 million estimated impressions, substantially exceeding goals of 100 articles and 30 million impressions. The team conducted 148 media meetings, nearly triple its target, and hosted seven journalists and creators through Global Media Marketplace activities. PR newsletters achieved an especially strong 47.1% average open rate. These results came within an increasingly competitive media environment where timely, distinctive storytelling and first-person experiences are becoming more important.

Trade engagement also significantly surpassed expectations. A total of 274 trade meetings and training sessions were completed against a target of 60, reaching 564 travel advisors. Ten trade newsletters maintained regular industry communication and averaged a 28.4% open rate.

Product development reflected changing Australian travel patterns, with wholesalers increasingly emphasizing flexible FIT, self-drive and bespoke experiences rather than broad packaged tours. New or expanded Southern product incorporated Missouri, South Carolina and Alabama into key road-trip, culinary and music-focused itineraries.

Overall, FY25–26 demonstrated strong market engagement, exceptional media performance and continued progress converting the American South’s distinctive experiences into both compelling storytelling and bookable travel product.

Travel South USA is well positioned to meet this moment through its strengths in music, food, culture, road trips, and warm hospitality, with the plan targeting high-value Late Millennials, Gen X, and Early Boomers — urban travelers with strong travel intent, the means to travel, and a desire for culturally rich, experience-led holidays.

For FY2026-27, the strategy follows a three-pronged approach spanning travel trade, PR and media, and social. Trade activity centers on building agent and operator confidence through targeted sales calls, webinar training, trade newsletters, and International Showcase FAM recruitment, supported by a trade cooperative campaign with a high-value partner (Helloworld/Viva Holidays or Luxury Escapes) and a calendar of events including an NZ roadshow series, AU regional activations, and Thanksgiving trade event sponsorship. PR and media efforts will sustain earned coverage through always-on media relations and editorial pitching around themes like music, food, road trips, and history, alongside participation in TravMedia IMM and Global Media Marketplace. Social strategy continues organic Facebook and Instagram posting to maintain breadth across partner states, supplemented by a modest paid boosting layer and UGC asset capture from a hosted creator to improve engagement and content quality.

Content will continue to be anchored in core themes — music and culture, culinary South, road trips and scenic byways, history and heritage, outdoors and adventure, festivals, the New South, and Southern hospitality (“All Y’all Are Welcome”) — to reinforce the Travel South USA brand. KPIs span trade engagement (partner meetings, agents trained, and International Showcase suppliers), PR and media output (media meetings, articles generated, and earned impressions), and social performance (organic posts, reach, and engagement), giving the region a coordinated, measurable framework for converting awareness into visitation.