Tourism Australia and BuzzFeed, the international news and entertainment site, have teamed up to offer young travellers ‘the opportunity of a lifetime’ exploring Australia.
In the first ‘BuzzFeed Mateship’, a fellowship and travel programme, winners of the fellowship will spend three months working and travelling across the country while sharing their experiences online. The programme is on offer to travellers from four different countries: the UK, Germany, Italy and France.
‘As far as working holidays go, I think you’d have to go a long way to beat this. It’s the road trip to end all road trips’, said Tourism Australia’s managing director John O’Sullivan.
The eight winners will fly to Australia, where they will have a bespoke itinerary filled with a variety of activities aimed at the young explorer. The best of the country’s culture, food and wine will be on offer to them.
They will then work with Tourism Australia and BuzzFeed.com, sharing their travel experiences on the companies’ social channels.
As part of the programme, the BuzzFeed Australia editorial team and Tourism Australia will mentor the ‘Mates’ as they learn how to create their own outstanding digital content. Each ‘Mate’ will then document their road-trip and share their experiences worldwide via BuzzFeed’s social feeds.
‘We’re excited to partner with Tourism Australia to give our audience around the world the opportunity to come and embed with the BuzzFeed Australia team, learn new creative skills and see the best of what this country has to offer. It’s truly the opportunity of a lifetime’, said Simon Crear, editor-in-chief and general manager of BuzzFeed Australia.
The programme has been created as part of a new campaign launching this October aiming to bring more young people to Australia. By offering these young travellers the chance to share their experiences online, the programme hopes to inspire and encourage many more young people to visit the country too.
‘These eight lucky young travellers have a life-changing trip ahead of them and one which we believe will motivate many more young international travellers to follow in their footsteps’, said Hon Steven Ciobo MP, minister for trade, tourism and investment.
Applications for the BuzzFeed Mateship programme are open now to applicants from the UK, Germany, Italy and France, and close on Friday 18th August. Further details can be found online at buzzfeed.com/jobs.
