After 22 years, travelling the world promoting far north Queensland,  Parker Travel Collection’s International Director of Sales, Robbie Bastion will conduct his 50th sales mission to North America.

Robbie will depart at the end of the month taking in Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, New York, Philadelphia and Chicago. He will be in North America 27 September – 13 October.

In his 22 year tourism industry career, Robbie has worked for only three organisations; Quicksilver Group of Companies, Down Under Tours and now the Parker Travel Collection 2001.

With 49 sales missions to North America under his belt Robbie has a wealth of specialised knowledge and developed loyal and long serving contacts that have been invaluable for securing business from this key market.  He has visited the USA under four Presidents – Bush, Clinton, Bush Jnr and now Obama. Similarly, he has worked with several heads of Tourism Australia and Tourism Queensland in Los Angeles and yet maintains many old ties. Earthquakes, blizzards, airline dramas and even a quintessential New York mugging have all been part of the experience, an experience that Robbie catalogued in his 2007 book ‘In Continents – Tales of Road Warrior’.

“I am still calling on companies and individuals I started calling on in 1989 and they have become good friends as well as work colleagues.”

Ruth Grau, President of Springboard Vacations, Los Angeles had this to say
“ Seventeen years ago when I was new to the travel business, Robbie Bastion was already an industry icon. His regular visits, laugh a minute antics and passion for Tropical North Queensland translated into sales for those companies he represented. An excellent ambassador for Australia, Robbie really wrote the manual on sales success in this marketplace.”

Robbie has seen many changes in this important market to Australia – the many different marketing campaigns following the successful Paul Hogan advertisements to the ‘Nothing Like Australia’ creative of today. 

According to Robbie, “I have also seen the consolidation of many wholesalers into a handful but conversely the growth of the Aussie Specialist (American retail travel agents) Program continues to put Australia in front of the agent and hopefully the consumer. However, the biggest factor influencing North American visitation always has been and will continue to be aviation.

“I’ve seen the rise and fall of airlines like Continental, American and North West try to cash in on the Australian market. Yet, the most steadying influence on the trans-Pacific sector has been Qantas Airways. Their new service into Dallas/Fort Worth will open a whole new market and is a sign of their continuing commitment to Australia. I’ll be doing my best to emphasise this during my upcoming round of calls,” he said.

On his return to Australia Robbie will fly to Melbourne to meet with 150 Aussie Specialist agents for Corroboree USA.