Tourism Australia confirms key UK appointment

18 June 2018

Tourism Australia has confirmed the appointment of Sally Cope as its new Regional General Manager for the UK, where she will oversee Australia's fourth largest international inbound tourism market which delivered 733,000 visitors to Australia last year.

Ms Cope joins Tourism Australia from Ultimate Winery Experiences Australia (UWEA), where she is currently Executive Officer and responsible for the leading wine tourism consortium, which represents Australia’s premium winery experiences and is part of Tourism Australia’s Signature Experiencesportfolio.

Ms Cope has 25 years’ experience within the travel and tourism industry, previously holding leadership positions at Anthology, Voyages Hotel and Resorts, and Qantas Holidays.

Tourism Australia Managing Director John O’Sullivan said Ms Cope’s strong tourism background and commercial record were key factors in her appointment to the role.

“Sally is a highly respected and connected tourism expert who has been marketing Australia to the world for over 25 years. From start-ups and scale-ups to major industry heavy-weights, her commitment to driving a positive culture both within organisations and beyond has resulted in consistently strong commercial results and exceptional customer experience,” Mr O’Sullivan said.

“The UK is a critically important market for Tourism Australia and we're delighted to have secured such a credentialed destination marketer to lead the team,” he said.

Ms Cope said it was a huge honour to join Tourism Australia and be given the opportunity to lead the team in such an important overseas market.

“In my role at Ultimate Winery Experiences Australia, I’ve had the opportunity to get involved in some of the exciting work Tourism Australia does off-shore in promoting Australia, including in the UK. We know the Brits love Australia, but there’s still so much more of our great tourism story to share and that’s certainly one of the big attractions of this role,” Ms Cope said.

Ms Cope replaces Denise von Wald who, after five years in London, recently decided to return to her home in South Australia and leaves Tourism Australia on 1 July 2018.

“On behalf of the global Tourism Australia team, I’d like to thank Denise for the significant contribution she’s made during her five years leading the UK team. We wish her all the best in her future endeavours,” Mr O’Sullivan said.

The UK is Australia’s fourth largest inbound market, delivering 733,000 visitors in 2017 and worth A$3.5 billion annually in tourism spending.

Ms Cope will commence in the London-based role on Monday 3 September.