Tourism Australia confirms China appointment

Tourism Australia has confirmed the appointment of a new Regional General Manager for Greater China, Australia’s highest yielding and fastest growing international inbound market.

Tony Everitt has been announced in the position and will commence in the Shanghai-based role in December.

Mr Everitt joins Tourism Australia from Tourism New Zealand, where he was General Manager Asia, responsible for all commercial and marketing activities.

Tourism Australia Managing Director Andrew McEvoy said Mr Everitt’s strong tourism background, existing knowledge and understanding of China and the Asia region were key factors in being appointed into the role.

“This is a key role for Tourism Australia and we’re delighted to have secured the talents of Tony who is an experienced destination marketer, with over 20 years’ experience in the travel and tourism industry, including a period of time working and living in China,” he said.

Mr Everitt has previously held CEO positions at Destination Queenstown and the South Pacific Tourism Organisation.

“I am confident Tony will hit the ground running, given his in depth knowledge of the Greater China region and his already established contacts with the distribution, airlines and the China National Tourism Authority (CNTA),” Mr McEvoy added.
The Greater China team will continue to report to Tim Jones, General Manager International Operations on an interim basis until Mr Everitt takes up his new position.
Mr McEvoy paid tribute to Tim, for his “great effort these last few months working with the Greater China team to build stronger relationships and projects in market.”
For Tourism Australia, the Greater China region covers China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Australia welcomed a record number of 981,790 visitors from the Greater China region in the 12 months to end of July 2013, up 15.5% on the previous year, of which 183,510 visitors were from Hong Kong, an increase of 8.9%.