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What is ATE?
The Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) is a tourism trade show that brings Australian tourism businesses together with airlines, tourism wholesalers and retailers from around the world. It provides a forum for Australian tourism Sellers to showcase their products, meet with overseas contacts and negotiate deals. It also provides international travel Buyers an opportunity to experience Australia first-hand.
International Buyers are selected by Tourism Australia to ensure the most influential people meet with Australian tourism businesses. ATE is open to Australian travel exhibitors only and represents a unique opportunity for attendees to increase their share of the inbound travel market.
ATE 2010 will return to Adelaide having last been hosted there in 2006. The event will be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre from Saturday 29 May - Friday 4 June 2010.
Who attends ATE?
Around 1700 Australian Seller delegates from approximately 600 companies will meet with nearly 700 key Buyer companies from over 40 countries.
Approximately 40 international and 25 Australian media will attend ATE 2010 in Adelaide, reporting to millions of people worldwide on what is new in the Australian travel and tourism industry. Media will also participate in pre and post tours to experience Australia first hand.
Event format
ATE is a seven day program and is divided into two separate modules, Eastern and Western, allowing Australian exhibitors to target the markets appropriate for their product. International buyers attend the module according to where their company is based and Australian exhibitors can apply to attend one or both modules.
The Eastern module targets Buyers from Japan, Asia and the Gulf Countries. Appointments run for two and a half days (Saturday 29 - Monday 31 May).
The Western module targets Buyers from UK, Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Gulf Countries, New Zealand and the South Pacific. Appointments commence on Tuesday morning and run for four days (Tuesday 1 - Friday 4 June).
Important to note: Western Sellers will not be permitted access to the trade show floor until Tuesday 1 June as the Eastern module will still be in operation.
Number of appointments and length of day
Based on high levels of satisfaction over the past four years, the length of the working day, number of appointments and three minute move time will remain the same. Appointments will commence at approximately 8:45am each morning and conclude at approximately 6:00pm. Both modules at ATE offer a combination of pre-scheduled and free appointments as follows:
| Module |
Max. No. of Prescheduled Appointments |
Max. No. of Free Appointments |
Length of Appointment |
Move time |
| Eastern |
66 |
11 |
13 minutes |
3 minutes |
| Western |
84 |
15 |
15 minutes |
3 minutes |
Networking Functions
During ATE 2010 some exciting official evening functions are planned to showcase host city, Adelaide, at its finest. For further details about these functions, click here.
It's important to note that in order to protect and respect the investment of our major partners, Sellers wishing to host buyers for meals, functions or private meetings for Buyers must do so outside of the official function times.
Happy hour will be maintained to ensure all Buyers and Sellers maximise this networking opportunity. Happy Hour will be held on Saturday 29 May from 5.15pm to 6.45pm.
Please note that there will be no pre-scheduled appointments during the Happy Hour. There will, however be free appointment slots available to fill between 5.17pm and 5.30pm but this is at each delegate's own discretion and with the knowledge that there may be some background noise present due to the commencement of Happy Hour.
ATE Research
Evaluation conducted each year has helped to refine ATE to suit Buyer and Seller needs. In 2009, 409 Buyer companies (64%) and 368 Seller companies (72%) completed the survey.
Key results
- Overall satisfaction – ATE 2009 received extremely high levels of satisfaction from delegates– 100% of Buyers and 98% of Sellers were either satisfied, very satisfied or extremely satisfied with the event overall.
- Overall organisation – 94% of Buyers and 92% of Sellers were satisfied with the overall organisation of the event
- Melbourne as a host city – 89% of Eastern Buyers and 91% of Western Buyers were satisfied or very satisfied with Melbourne as a host city for ATE
- Commercial benefit (Buyers) – Buyers rated the commercial benefit of attending ATE as very or extremely high (Eastern 82% and Western 87%), and better or much better than other trade events (81% Eastern, 75% Western).
- Value for money (Sellers) – 82% of Sellers overall felt that ATE 2009 had offered good, very good or excellent value for money
- Appointment Scheduling – Overall delegates were very impressed with the quality of appointments at ATE 2009 (80% Eastern Buyers, 91% Western Buyers, 100% Eastern Sellers, 83% Western Sellers, 79% Dual module sellers were satisfied or very satisfied with their schedules)
- The Aussie Specialist Program continues to be successful, with 91% of Sellers who met with an ASP agent rating the program as effective, very or extremely effective
- Future attendance – The vast majority of delegates (96% Buyers and 93% Sellers) indicated they would be likely to attend ATE 2010 in its current format
Event Statistics
Click on the links below for further interesting research results for each Module:
Eastern Module
ATE 2009 Eastern Seller Companies by Operation Type
ATE 2009 Eastern Buyer Delegates by Country
ATE 2009 Eastern Company and Delegate Statistics
Western Module
ATE 2009 Western Seller Companies by Operation Type
ATE 2009 Western Buyer Delegates By Country
ATE 2009 Western Seller Company and Delegate Statistics
To view more photos of ATE 2009, click here.
History of ATE
Overseas Buyers have been attending an annual travel trade fair in Australia since 1979. The first event was called Marketplace and the only overseas buyers in attendance were from North America. By 1981, Marketplace was attracting worldwide interest and buyers were coming from Europe, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. At this stage, Marketplace had only 50 booths for large Australian operators. Small operators had no opportunity to meet with international buyers, so ATE was established for these buyers and ran immediately before Marketplace. In 1985 the two forums merged to become ATE Marketplace. In 1986 the event became known as ATE. Over the years, the product range has grown to encompass all aspects of travel and tourism including transport and touring operations, state and regional tourism bodies and theme parks.
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