The pioneering partnership between Virtuoso and Tourism Australia continues to drive demand with the luxury travel network recording a 34% increase in bookings for travel to the destination this year.
Virtuoso Senior Vice President Marketing Helen McCabe-Young revealed a significant increase in inbound travel to Australia for 2025 so far, not only in terms of bookings, but also total production which more than doubled by 53%. Meanwhile, the average daily rate (ADR) for hotels grew by 20%, compared to the same period in 2024.
The luxury travel network’s partnership with the tourism body aims to create innovative digital destination experiences that highlight Australia’s unique appeal. This partnership, which began several years ago, has evolved into a multi-layered collaboration, which marks a shift in the way the travel industry connects with travellers and advisors alike.
“We have an amazing partnership with Tourism Australia,” McCabe-Young told LATTE. The initial spark for the partnership came a few years ago when Virtuoso introduced the concept of “digital destination experiences” – digital hubs that serve as a comprehensive, editorially-driven space dedicated to specific destinations.
“Tourism Australia was our first partner to sign on,” she explained. “We said, ‘Let’s learn together, let’s work together.’” The aim was to craft a digital experience focused entirely on Australia, providing not only content but also an immersive narrative that would evolve over time.
Version 2.0 of this platform has already launched, showcasing an expanded range of itineraries, more focused regional content, and greater depth. “It’s really just an expansion of content, with greater focus on certain regions within the states, just amplifying it,” McCabe-Young explained. “Our hope is to continue that relationship and to continue to build on it.”
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The campaign’s structure is one of collaboration and investment, with both Virtuoso and Tourism Australia contributing resources. While Tourism Australia funds the digital experience, Virtuoso creates the editorial content and promotes the platform across its extensive network. It’s a co-funding model that Virtuoso extends only to partners who are “highly engaged,” she elaborated. “It’s not a vendor relationship. We really look for that collaboration to get to a win-win – that’s a huge part of our philosophy and ethos.”
One of the key strengths of the partnership is the ability to measure its impact. Virtuoso runs campaigns targeting key markets, such as the US, driving traffic to the content hub. The effectiveness of these campaigns is then tracked by monitoring site traffic and subsequent bookings. “We track the inbound hits to the site and then the business and the bookings that came from that. And it’s delivered really well in 1.0,” McCabe-Young said.
Building on this success, Virtuoso is now planning the next stage of its partnership with Tourism Australia. “We’re having conversations about bringing more content packages into the content centre for the travel advisors,” she said. This will leverage the power of their global network of advisors, who will amplify the content and further promote Australia’s diverse offerings.
The strength of the relationship between the two organisations was further highlighted recently when Virtuoso advisors rated Tourism Australia as a top training partner for Q1.
“We put a lot of effort into ensuring our Virtuoso Australia Immersion programs are full of useful and engaging content that helps advisors better understand Australia’s destinations and experiences—so they can craft exceptional itineraries for their clients,” Tourism Australia Distribution Development Manager Americas Glen Davis said.
Pictured: Virtuoso representatives recently visited the Tourism Australia office in Los Angeles for their annual planning day for FY 2026.
