Australia was rated the number one
destination global independent travelers would like to visit next
according to the annual Lonely Planet Traveler’s Pulse Survey announced
today.

Coinciding with this honor, Tourism Australia is featuring the Qantas
Aussie Air Pass on http://www.australia.com/ for $999 so more people can
see the country that has become so popular.

Michael Londregan, Tourism Australia Vice President of the Americas said
the Air Pass was helping make more Americans dreams of a vacation Down
Under a reality.

“The Air Pass is proving the most popular campaign we’ve run in America on
record,” he said. “There were more than 70,000 visits to Australia.com
last week—a 45 percent increase on the same week last year and
undoubtedly one of the biggest week’s ever.

“And it’s no wonder. Australia is the ultimate destination for people
wanting to have a vacation that’s more than just a break from their
routine. Australia is all about life experiences—from diving the
world’s largest living aquarium to discovering the planet’s oldest
continuous culture. If you love food and wine, then this is the place to
go to discover tastes you’ve never expected. If you want to feel the power
of a landscape as old as time itself, then Australia’s vast, ancient heart
is an awesome experience.”

Mr. Londregan said the Air Pass gave travelers the freedom to easily put
together Australia’s top destinations at an attractive price. The pass
includes flights from Los Angeles to Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane and
three internal Australian flights to 17 Australian destinations.

Divided in zones, the base price of $999 is zone one with options to
travel to/from Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Gold
Coast, Hobart and Launceston.

For an additional USD$200, travel in zone two—Cairns, Hamilton Island,
Townsville, Alice Springs, Ayers Rock (Uluru) and Darwin—is also
possible. Or, for an additional $400, options expand to zone three’s
Perth, Broome and the just-added Hayman Island.

Some sample itineraries beginning at $999 include:

Wine & Culture: Enjoy the buzzing cities, cosmopolitan restaurants and
outlaying wine regions of Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Fly Los Angeles
to Sydney, then Sydney to Melbourne, Melbourne to Adelaide, Adelaide to
Brisbane, Brisbane to Los Angeles.

Beautiful Beaches: With over 1200 miles of coast line, visit Bondi Beach,
Surfer’s Paradise and the Great Ocean road in Sydney, Brisbane and
Melbourne. Fly Los Angeles to Sydney, Sydney to Gold Coast, Gold Coast to
Melbourne, Melbourne to Brisbane, Brisbane to Los Angeles.

Nearly 20,000 respondents from over 167 countries participated in Lonely
Planet’s online survey at http://www.lonelyplanet.com/. After Australia,
the most desired destinations to visit in the future were Chile, Brazil,
New Zealand and India in the top five respectively.

Australia was also tops on the list of favorite destinations previously
visited. This is no surprise considering that 47% of American visitors to
Australia are repeats according to Tourism Australia research.

For returning travelers, the air pass is also a wonderful way to explore
more remote corners of Australia as the pass makes it easier to fly to
farther afield destinations like Perth, Ayer’s Rock (Uluru) and Darwin.

For example, traverse the continent and mix cosmopolitan cities and
beaches like Sydney and Brisbane with Darwin and Perth’s nearby rugged
outback beauty by flying from Los Angeles to Brisbane, Brisbane to Darwin,
Darwin to Perth and Perth to Sydney for $1399.

The Lonely Planet survey also discovered that 94% of respondents felt that
travel was very or extremely important to them and 95% of respondents said
that exploring other cultures when traveling is important or very
important to them.

Travel to Australia is rising as the Australian Bureau of Statistics
reported this month that there were a record 5.2 million visitor arrivals
during the year ended 31 October 2004, an increase of 11 percent relative
to the previous year.

For more information on Australia or the Air Pass, call 1-800 965-6252 or
visit http://www.australia.com/.
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