- Applications for Tourism Australia’s ‘Best Jobs in the World’ are now closed, with the competition proving a global hit.
- More than 330,000 people from 196 countries around the world have expressed interest in the six dream jobs with more than 40,000 video entries being uploaded.
Applications for Tourism Australia’s ‘Best Jobs in the World’ are now closed, with the competition proving a global hit.
More than 330,000 people from 196 countries around the world have expressed interest in the six dream jobs with more than 40,000 video entries being uploaded.
The most sought-after job has been NSW’s Chief Funster (20.2 per cent), closely followed by South Australia’s Wildlife Caretaker (19.9 per cent), Queensland’s Park Ranger (17.5 per cent), Western Australia’s Taste Master (14.7 per cent), Northern Territory’s Outback Adventurer (14.3 per cent) and Victoria’s Lifestyle Photographer (13.4 per cent).
Americans have proved most keen for a shot at one of the six dream jobs, closely followed by Brits, then Italians, French, Koreans and Australians.
Tourism Australia Managing Director Andrew McEvoy said the response to the competition had been overwhelming.
“Tourism Australia’s ‘Best Jobs in the World’ competition has clearly struck a chord with the world, and I know there have been some fantastic video entries. In a few months there’s going to be six very, very happy people getting a dream job offer and a life-changing opportunity to work and play in our great country,” he said.
Mr McEvoy said the huge interest so far in the competition had resulted in a massive boost in the number of people seeking further information about Australia’s Working Holiday Maker program.
“This competition provides a platform to entice more young people from around the world to come to Australia to holiday, using the Working Holiday Maker program in particular to extend their stay and travel deeper into our country,’ he said.
“And the great news is that it’s already doing a fantastic job of planting those seeds. Our working holiday maker Facebook page has gained nearly 300,000 new fans since we launched the competition, with more than 430,000 people now actively seeking information about a working holiday in Australia.”
Mr McEvoy said 30 per cent of people expressing interest in the jobs had also requested further information about holidaying in Australia, which provided Tourism Australia and its commercial partners including Virgin and STA Travel with an invaluable opportunity to convert into travel.
He also acknowledged the strong backing the campaign was getting from industry, with support from more than 60 Australian and international youth-based tourism partners, many using their own distribution and publicity channels to amplify the campaign, helping to reach an additional audience of around three million people.
STA Travel, one of the campaign’s key partners, recently reported a 17 cent increase in its UK sales, and 45 per cent spike in website traffic, which it attributed to the campaign.
Applicants now face a nervous wait to see if they have made it through to the next stage of the application process.
The 25 best applications for each of the six jobs will be announced on 24 April and asked to provide supporting job references, before a final shortlist of 18 candidates (three for each job) are flown to Australia for a selection process in June, with the six winners officially announced on 21 June 2013.
Examples of some of the best video entries can be viewed here:
- Taste Master (Western Australia): Katie Brown from Grafton (NSW), Australia
- Chief Funster (New South Wales): Josh Garcia, USA
- Outback Adventurer (Northern Territory): Thomas Hesketh, UK
- Wildlife Caretaker (South Australia): Elisa Detrez , France
- Park Ranger (Queensland): Hjoerdis Pahl, Germany
- Lifestyle Photographer (Melbourne, Victoria): Bobo Sixu Zhao, China
‘Best Jobs in the World’ is part of a major international marketing push by Tourism Australia to promote tourism opportunities provided by Australia’s Working Holiday Maker (WHM) program.
It comes on the back of strong growth in the number of Working Holiday Makers coming to Australia. Australian Government figures show 136,155 WHM visas were granted for the six month period to 31 December 2012, a 23.2 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2011.
The ‘Best Jobs in the World’ campaign is supported by Destination NSW, Tourism Northern Territory, Tourism Victoria, Tourism Western Australia, Tourism and Events Queensland and South Australian Tourism Commission.
In addition a number of key commercial partners are supporting the campaign, including Virgin Australia, STA Travel, Citibank, DELL, IKEA, Sony Music and Monster.com.
