On April 13, Qantas announced the formation of a new inbound tourism business, Tour East Australia Pty Limited, to be based in Sydney, Australia.

The Chief Executive Officer of Qantas, Mr Geoff Dixon, said Tour East Australia - a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qantas Holidays' Singapore-based joint venture company, Holiday Tours and Travel (HTT) - would open for business on July 1 this year.

"Tour East Australia will provide land content, including sightseeing tours and accommodation, for packaging by travel wholesalers and travel companies worldwide.

"It will also provide a comprehensive travel service for the inbound meetings, incentives, conferences and events market, and offer a meet-and-greet airport transfer service for individual and group travellers," Mr Dixon said.

"HTT has considerable expertise in destination management, including an extensive network of destination management companies under the Tour East brand throughout Asia. The Qantas Group aims to further leverage this expertise as well as strengthen its involvement in growing inbound markets with the establishment of this new Australia-based subsidiary," Mr Dixon said.

He said the Qantas Group carried more than 1.9 million visitors to Australia in 2006* and that figure was expected to rise by 30 per cent to around 2.5 million visitors by 2010.

"Tour East Australia will offer visitors travelling to Australia a high quality service that complements the extensive Qantas Holidays range for travel to and throughout Australia.

"Over the past 12 months, Qantas Holidays' inbound business has grown by more than 60 per cent, and we expect the establishment of Tour East Australia to lift this part of our operation to a new level."

Mr Dixon said Simon Bernardi, currently Qantas Regional General Manager NSW and previously Group General Manager Qantas Holidays, would head up Tour East Australia.

* Based on information by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.