Qantas, Tourism Australia end feud with video launch

Qantas and Tourism Australia have publicly buried their bitter feud with the launch of a new safety video to be jointly promoted by the two organisations.

Abandoning the celebrity-driven videos of the past, Qantas has chosen instead to promote rare Australian landscapes such as Deep Well in the Northern Territory, Tooborac in Victoria, and Josephine Falls in Queensland.

The new video features everyday Australians guiding passengers through the brace position, seat belts and escape slides.

It will be promoted by Tourism Australia to their 100 million social media followers.

Speaking at the launch of the video in Los Angeles, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said the video was the beginning of a new relationship between Tourism Australia and the airline.

The two companies parted ways in 2012 with Joyce saying Tourism Australia chairman Geoff Dixon had a “conflict of interest”.

Dixon has since left the organisation, which is now chaired by Anthony South.

“There was a conflict of interest in the chairman that was there. That has been changed. There’s a new CEO and we felt the timing was appropriate in working together again,” Joyce said.

“We have a very good relationship with Tourism Australia and this is a great way of restarting that relationship. It’s important that we work together. It’s the start of us working on more of these initiatives.”

Ahead of the G’DAY USA promotion in Los Angeles on Thursday, Joyce predicted strong growth in tourism from the United States owing partly to the favourable exchange rate.

“The lower Australian dollar is great for the tourism sector. We are coming off the production and growth of the mining sector and we need sectors of the economy that will fill the gap. I think tourism is one of the real potentials for that to occur.

“In last year alone up to September we had a 13 per cent increase in visitors’ expenditure and we also had a seven per cent increase in Australians spending money.”

Meanwhile, Tourism Australia confirmed the video launch marks a renewed cooperation between the two parties.

“It’s a nice way to integrate great destination content, which we’re happy to promote through our social channels,” a spokesperson said.

Image credit: iStock

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Latest comments

sting says:
January 28, 2016 at 4:08 pm
… tears falling from my eyes…
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airlines alan joyce geoff dixon qantas tony south tourism tourism australia