So long, Farewell, Auf wiedersein, goodbye

After nearly two weeks on the road a little like Priscilla Queen of the Desert, except this roadshow was led by a Petra “Queen [aka CEO] of the Austrian National Tourist Office”, a record delegation of nearly 40 Austrians finally bade farewell to Australia last night from Melbourne, after what has been proclaimed the most successful Austrian National Tourist Office roadshow ever in Australia.

With functions in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in the respective cities’ Town Halls [and where else would you hold an event for such a classic and stylish European destination], where tourism industry representatives from all parts of Austria transformed the building into a stunning Viennese café, the sweet taste of all things Austrian was left lingering on the mouths of guests.

On her first visit to Australia, the charismatic and highly professional Austrian National Tourist Office CEO, Dr Petra Stolba, [pictured in Sydney, second from left with from the left, Astrid Mulholland-Licht, Director ANTO Australia/New Zealand, Dr Petra Stolba, CEO ANTO, His Excellency the Austrian Ambassador to Australia, Mr Hannes Poria and Mrs Andrea Porias and Michael Duscher, ANTO Director International Markets], demonstrated ANTO’s recognition of the value of the Australian market, saying “Australia is Austria’s third largest long-haul market after the US and Japan”, with this fact obviously recognised in the quality of the presentations and functions by ANTO and their partners in these stunning events, but also by ANTO’s ongoing investment in Australia by maintaining a full time office and team in Sydney, led by respected industry icon Astrid Mulholland-Licht.

Over the last two weeks, industry guests from all over Australia have sampled some of the best food and wine Austria has to offer, which are superb, while exchanging business contacts with operators and discovering the many options available for their passengers to Europe through one of its finest hub, Vienna.

Fine coffees, Austrian brewed beer, goulash, schnitzel, sacha torte and strudel were the fare of the day with another fare, courtesy of Emirates, being offered as a door prize.

One guest was so impressed with the food he was seen emptying plates of miniature sasha tortes into his bag towards the end of the night.  Caught off guard, he quickly wiped the evidence from his hands to accept one of the major door prizes.

The Mole also took the opportunity of having a chat with Petra, Astrid and Michael, who told The Mole that Australia is a very important market for Austria, a small country of only 8m people, with Australia a market from which they see dynamic growth and one to which ANTO is fully committed. 

They explained that the withdrawal of Austrian Airlines from Australia last year had not affected traffic to Austria at all and while it was nice to have the national carrier on line, their relationship with a range of other carriers and in particular Emirates was excellent, providing great service to Vienna via Dubai.

The fact that Australia is the number three international market for Austria is a key factor for their dynamic activity in Australia, but rather than viewing the world by geographic markets Petra and Michael told the Mole that ANTO views Australia as possessing a number of their key global segments, which their research has shown do travel and will travel to Austria from Australia.

Michael added that a four year growth rate of 38% had to be considered as dynamic.

Petra said that while this was her first visit to Australia, she loved the Aussie lifestyle and humour which was very similar to Austria in many ways and that Australians had a good, positive image as travellers to Austria, with the Austrian industry keen to attract more Australians.

As we have come to expect from ANTO, everything they do is magic and their most recent Australian roadshow was no exception………plus fine coffees, Austrian brewed beer, goulash, schnitzel, sacha torte and strudel………yum!

The Mole says come back soon Petra, Michael and all your colleagues and we also look forward to seeing you in your home country, Austria.

A Report by Kevin Moloney, international travel writer in Melbourne and The Mole in Sydney.