CATO bushfire meetings

THE Council of Australian Tour Operators (CATO) has been in touch with both the Australian Federation of Travel Agents and the Australian Tourism Industry Council to discuss the impact of the fires on local business and recovery strategies.

CATO Chairman Dennis Bunnik told TD it was important tourists returned to rural Australia as part of recovery efforts.

“We’ve also reached out to our members in order to assess how we can best help and how the industry can work to help the rest of the industry as well as the Australian community,” he said.

“Most of CATO’s members are outbound operators, which means they’re ambassadors for Australia.

“CATO is going to be a very important part of getting that message out that Australia is open for business and we do need people to come and visit.”

Bunnik emphasised that destinations like Kangaroo Island and the Adelaide Hills will not be rebuilt overnight and their communities will need a lot of support.

CATO Managing Director Brett Jardine has also called for all Australians to play their part in supporting inbound and domestic tourism.

“Each of those travelling Australians is a potential advocate for everything Australia has to offer as an iconic tourist destination,” Jardine said.

“Whether they’re chatting to locals over a beer in a British pub, part of a multi-nationality trekking group in Nepal, or skiing with foreigners in Japan, we encourage all travelling Australians to promote visitation down under from all over the world.”