The Townsville North Queensland Edutourism Consortium has re-signed its second three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the American Universities International Programs (AUIP) to assist in growing Townsville’s educational tourism capabilities and developing further opportunities for greater USA student visitation to Townsville.
AUIP representatives have spent the past week in North Queensland experiencing what experiential learning opportunities visiting international students can undertake, while studying at James Cook University, across reef, outback and rainforest.
Since 2013, the Townsville North Queensland tourism industry has been developing and implementing a long term, focused strategy to attract international education groups to the region. The Consortium’s strategic plan is to position the region as a centre for excellence in providing educational nature-based and cultural tourism experiences to students from across the world.
Townsville Edutourism Consortium Chairman, Ross McLennan said the MOU extension is a direct reflection of the results achieved in this market over the past three years.
“Our agreement with AUIP has been in place since 2016 and has delivered over 300 US students to Townsville from 10 different study groups for three to six weeks at a time,” said Mr McLennan.
“This is a unique partnership that will only continue to strengthen as we further our ability to position Townsville North Queensland as centre of excellence in faculty-led study abroad programs.”
Townsville Enterprise Tourism & Events – Director, and Edutourism committee member, Bridget Woods said the extended agreement is a great outcome to continue developing the Edutourism initiative.
“This has been welcomed by all members of the Edutourism Consortium, which has grown from three operators to 25 since its inception seven years ago,” said Ms Woods.
“All Consortium members are incredibly committed to delivering experiential learning outcomes to students from across the world.
“Resigning the contract with AUIP enables the opportunity to open Townsville to a greater number of USA universities and build off the work that the Consortium has already achieved in a short amount of time.
“We look forward to continuing our strong partnership with AUIP to grow international student visitation into the region.”
