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Ex Qantas boss takes top tourism job
Former Qantas boss Geoff Dixon has been appointed chairman of Tourism Australia, replacing Rick Allert.
Perth businesswoman Kate Lamont has been named deputy chair, while another former airline CEO, Virgin Blue’s Brett Godfrey, joins the board along with Mark Stone, chief executive of Parks Victoria.
Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF) managing director Christopher Brown said this would give Tourism Australia a renewed focus and a great capacity to restore its industry leadership and performance.
“Today’s appointments add further steel to the structure of Tourism Australia,†Brown said.
“The promotion of former Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon to chairman puts one of Australia’s best marketers in position to help guide the future strategy of Tourism Australia.
“Tourism Australia has a significant responsibility for growing inbound and domestic tourism and therefore supporting the jobs of half a million Australians.
“However, it has failed to meet its own high standards in the period since the 2000 Olympic Games with a couple of mediocre marketing campaigns and a lack of support from government and industry.
“With a new CEO and now with a reinvigorated Board of Directors, we are hopeful that Tourism Australia can recapture its former glory and help rebuild domestic and inbound tourism growth, and play a bigger role in tourism investment and supply-side issues.â€
By TravelMole Asia
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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