Tourism Australia's ‘Best Jobs in the World' competition drew to a finale in Sydney with six dream job offers made are.
The winners are:
- Chief Funster (New South Wales): Andrew Smith (USA)
- Lifestyle Photographer (Melbourne, Victoria): Roberto Seba (Brazil)
- Outback Adventurer (Northern Territory): Allan Dixon (Ireland)
- Park Ranger (Queensland): Elisa Detrez (France)
- Taste Master (Western Australia): Rich Keam (England)
- Wildlife Caretaker (South Australia): Greg Snell (Canada)
A seventh job was awarded by Virgin Australia to Cameron Ernst from the USA, who will fly the length and breadth of the country as the airline's new 'High Flyer', championing Australia's best customer service experiences.
The 18 finalists spent the past week in Australia undertaking a series of adventure, nature-based, culinary, social media and photography challenges and assessments, as part of a rigorous final selection process.
Tourism Australia Managing Director Andrew McEvoy said the competition had been extremely tough, but that all of the finalists deserved great credit for their performances.
"I'd like to congratulate all of the 18 finalists for the tremendous enthusiasm and effort they have put into this competition. The successful candidates each demonstrated incredible talent, energy and desire throughout the application process and will, I'm sure, take these positive attributes into the job with them," Mr McEvoy said.
"I'd also like to thank the 330,000+ people from 196 countries around the world that expressed interest in our six dream jobs and encourage them to come Down Under on a working holiday or just for a visit to experience for themselves why there's nothing like Australia," he added.
Mr McEvoy said the real winner overall was the natural beauty and diversity of Australia which, thanks to the competition, had been showcased globally across nearly 200 countries across the world.
"Importantly, the youth campaign that sits underneath this ‘Best Jobs' competition is already delivering results, with commercial partners like Virgin Australia and STA Travel reporting increased bookings and Tourism Australia seeing a significant spike in international interest in Australia's Working Holiday Maker program," he said.
The six successful candidates are expected to commence their jobs between August and December 2013.
Tourism Australia's ‘Best Jobs in the World' competition is part of a major international marketing push to promote tourism opportunities provided by Australia's Working Holiday Maker (WHM) program.
In 2012, Working Holiday Makers contributed A$2.5 billion to the Australian economy, each spending on average in excess of A$13,000 during their stay.
A recent Tourism Australia survey completed by nearly 15,000 of the 330,000 people who entered the global competition has revealed 72% are planning to apply for an Australian working holiday visa and 39% seriously considering taking a working holiday within the next six months.
Since the competition was launched, Tourism Australia's working holiday maker Facebook page has more than trebled from 150,000 to close to 470,000 fans with young people around the world actively seeking information about a working holiday in Australia.
The campaign is supported by Destination New South Wales, 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.
