Canadians keep saying g'day to Australia's allure
When Tourism Australia made Robert Irwin the star of its latest brand campaign, the government agency couldn’t have scripted it better as the well-known wildlife conservationist wound up freestyle and cha cha dancing his way to the top spot on Dancing with the Stars.
“We launched our campaign, our second chapter of Come and say G’day last August and Robert stars in the North America version and he appears in quite a few of them around the world. He’s doing so well. He is such a popular Aussie figure and he was already an official Friend of Australia, which is our advocacy program, but he’s just doing wonders – none the least winning Dancing with the Stars… It was all planned, all planned,” Robin Mack, the new managing director of Tourism Australia joked during a recent visit to Toronto.
Although new to the role, Mack is going on 14 years with Tourism Australia and has extensive industry experience including as a travel advisor, which gives him a well rounded perspective on the travel trade.
“We are a complex destination to many consumers coming across and we’re fortunate and we’re fortunate that we’re on a bucket list for many people to visit Australia one day and our travel advisor community really help make that conversion happen,” he said, adding that Australia also has a high repeat visitation rate from the market. “There are a lot of reasons to sell Australia anyway in that we tick a lot of the boxes for consumer choice for a longer haul holiday. The consumer looks for safety and security, value for money, great food and drink, nature and wildlife, a welcoming community — and that’s everything that Australia offers. You can sell Australia with confidence that Australia will deliver for you.”
With 24 direct flights from Vancouver to Brisbane and Sydney per week, Mack notes that Canadians are not only increasingly visiting the destination, but also spending more money.
“We’re at 171,000 visitors from Canada coming into Australia, that’s a four per cent increase over the previous year, so growth is definitely there. Expenditure wise, it was a billion dollars that they delivered to the visitor economy so we’re really happy,” he added. “One of the things I love about our Canadian visitors is they’re staying longer and they’re dispersing more as well.”
Notably, Tourism Australia chair Penny Fowler also described Canadian travellers as adventurous, curious and increasingly seeking meaningful, high-quality experiences, qualities that align strongly with their target audience.
“Tourism certainly represents holidays and unforgettable experiences but its impact extends far beyond that,” Fowler shared. “Today, tourism in Australia supports more than 360,000 businesses, employs nearly 700,000 Australians, contributes close to 3 per cent of Australia’s total GDP and strengthens regional communities with 2.4 million international visitors travelling beyond our capital cities and the Gold Coast in the year ending September 2025. These figures are a powerful reminder that tourism drives opportunity, resilience and prosperity across our nation.”
Mack also highlighted that Australia has a high repeat rate of visitors from Canada, and has lots of new products and experiences coming into the market to attract first-time and repeat clients.
“We have had over 250 new hotel openings in the last few years, new experiences and percents that have been developed. One of the key ones is Brisbane, it has a new precinct called Queen’s Wharf which occupies 10 per cent of the Central Business District — 3.6 billion has been developed on that, the infrastructure keeps happening.”
Mack said they are continuously revamping and innovating the Australia Specialist Program, an online training platform through which agents can become destination experts.
“Knowing the importance of travel advisors, we then want to help them best sell Australia,” he added, noting there are also FAM trip opportunities. “We also support with newsletters, updates, webinars and face-to-face training.”
Looking ahead, Australia is also focusing a lot on events and sports, as the Rugby World Cup is coming in 2027 across seven key cities and Brisbane is set to host the Olympic and Paralympics in 2032.
“For us it’s great that we get these visitors to fill our stadiums but then they get out exploring and get a taste of Australia,” he added.
Although Mack has already seen a lot of the destination throughout his career and a 12-month stint backpacking around the country, Mack admits there’s still one thing that’s evaded him to date.
“One place that’s on my personal bucket list — and I hope they don’t read this [because they’d shame me for not having done it] — is Ningaloo Reef and I want to go swimming with the whale sharks,” he revealed.
