Tourism Australia is teaming up with the countries top wineries to form a major new national partnership aiming to raise the profile of Australia as a top wine tourism destination, according to BreakingTravelNews.com.
They have created "Ultimate Winery Experiences of Australia," a group of high-end, award winning wineries that offer wine tasting, food-wine matching, wine education and gastronomy in popular locations within Australia's renowned wine regions.
The wineries include Jacobs Creek and Seppeltsfield from the Barossa Valley, Leeuwin Estate and Xanadu from the Margaret River region, De Bortoli TarraWarra and Yering Station from the Yarra Valley, Wyndham Estate from the Hunter Valley, Montalto from the Mornington Peninsula and Moorilla Estate and Josef Chromy from Tasmania.
The collaboration includes support from State tourism offices and hopes to take advantage of the potential of the wine and tourism industries, worth A$140 billion to the economy annually.
"Tourism Australia is really pleased to be involved in this new exciting initiative, which allows us to support the tourism and wine industries by packaging up and promoting the best of the best of Australia's wineries, cellar doors and wine experiences," Andrew McEvoy, the Tourism Australia Managing director said. "These wineries are not simply venues to taste and purchase wine.
"Most of them offer a complete tourism experience - restaurants, accommodations, tours, as well as exciting behind the scenes winery experiences," McEvoy added. "They allow visitors to interact with the product, the winemaker and enjoy first-hand, the rich diversity that our many wine regions have to offer."
Brooke Copping, the Marketing Manager of Moorilla Estate in Tasmania, said the new initiative offered Moorilla Winery an opportunity to reach an international audience, which they don't have the resources to do independently.
"We are passionate about promoting Australia as a food and wine destination, and believe it's an essential part of building the reputation of Australian tourism at home and abroad," Greg Stirling, the Head of Brand Sites and Visitation Jacobs Creek Visitor Centre, said. "We have incredible quality in our regions and this is a terrific opportunity to build Australia's brand in the food and wine world."
Tourism Australia has released a "Best of Australia" banner, of which wine has been included under, joining Great Golf Courses of Australia and Great Walks of Australia.
The partnership is planned to expand to include other vineyards, many of which are in iconic settings that will attract domestic and international visitors.
The wine initiative is backed by research conducted by BDA Marketing last year, which found that despite perceptions, Australia's food and wine are ranked very highly among visitors to Australia.
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