Tourism Australia Managing Director Geoff Buckley said the addition of the Visiting Opinion Leaders Program to Tourism Australia's existing public relations activities provided new ways to reach consumers in the rapidly changing communications landscape: "In addition to traditional advertising there are so many more ways to reach consumers today, particularly in the digital environment," says Buckley.
"We know that the consumers we target - Experience Seekers - are very active in the digital space which is a key reason why we are targeting digital opinion leaders who have a vast audience and influential voice."
Buckley said the Visiting Opinion Leaders Program will work in the same way as Tourism Australia's very effective international media hosting programs, which have been running for more than 20 years.
"The key difference is that we are now adding online opinion leaders to our hosting mix in order to extend our storytelling into new and highly influential channels," says Buckley.
"Traditional media outlets and travel journalists are still very relevant in promoting Australia to the world. However, we recognise there are new and emerging opinion leaders, such as bloggers, who generate very high traffic and have a vast fan base which often extends across several countries.
"These new influencers also enable us to reach into areas of interest beyond traditional travel and tourism, giving us a wider audience which is extremely valuable when times are tough and competition between destinations is fierce," says Buckley.
Tourism Australia will concentrate on inviting opinion leaders to Australia from areas of interest that align to and support the organisation's brand positioning.
"This will ensure that our brand messages are being reinforced through powerful word-of-mouth destination storytelling", says Buckley.
The opinion leaders program follows a number of Tourism Australia activities in digital and social media including a Facebook page, and activities with MySpace and Bebo to target working holiday makers.
Tourism Australia's Facebook page has a following of well over 200,000 people, which is growing at a rate of almost 1,000 new fans a day. This month Tourism Australia has expanded its activities to integrate Twitter followers' comments or suggestions directly into its Facebook page.
Buckley said this new development provided a way of connecting up people on Twitter with a real interest in Australia with people on Facebook with the same interest in our country: "Social media is a great way for people to connect instantly on a large scale around things they are interested in - like Australian holidays," says Buckley.
"Our activities on Twitter and Facebook enable people from around the world who have visited Australia to share their experiences with a community of travellers who are equally passionate about our country.
"For Tourism Australia the role of Twitter is to facilitate conversations and dialogue about the destination, and to connect people who want to talk about Australia online - or to direct people to information resources that will help them to plan a holiday.
"To facilitate genuine conversation between real people about why Australia is a great place to visit can be an incredibly powerful tool to influence people to travel to our country in the future," says Buckley.