Managing Director and Founder of Anne Wild & Associates (AWA), a globally connected and award-winning Public Relations and Communications agency specialising in Travel PR and Marketing Communications for a stunning portfolio of clients spanning hotels and resorts, destinations, cruise lines, attractions, tour operators and more.

Craig Platt is Managing Editor for traveller.com.au, Australia's leading travel publishing website, incorporating the Traveller sections of The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age and featured across these masthead's websites as well as the Brisbane Times and WA Today. Craig is one of Australia's most experienced digital journalists and editors and has worked in journalism for more than 20 years. He has managed The Age and Sydney Morning Herald's digital travel publishing since 2007.

James Gregory Wilkinson is an award-winning TV show host, Editor-In-Chief and global travel expert.

He is the host of the executive travel and lifestyle TV show WAYFARER and Editor-In-Chief of the Wayfarer website and newsletter that was launched in 2017.

WAYFARER Series 1 was broadcast on Sky News Australia (it generated 1.2 million viewers and is still available online at skynews.com.au and Foxtel On Demand) and is about to be broadcast on WestJet in Canada to 25 million passengers.

WAYFARER Series 2 is currently in final production and episodes set to be broadcast will feature Austin, Beijing, Fort Worth, Hong Kong, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, Shanghai and several more global cities to be announced.

WAYFARER Series 3 is currently in production in 4K Ultra HD and destinations will include Paris, Fiji, the Whitsundays in Queensland, Auckland, Sydney, Singapore and several more global cities to be announced.

Each episode showcases some of the best hotels, restaurants, bars, galleries, shops and much more in the world's hottest destinations.

For the last 19 years, James has been the Editor-In-Chief of the Asia-Pacific region's highly respected hotel industry magazine, HM, and its online products.

He is formerly the Travel Editor of Time Out Australia and a Contributing Editor to SPICE magazine and SpiceNews.

From late-2012 to early 2018, James was a regular guest (appearing on over 200 episodes) on the Sky News Business Channel television show 'Business Class', which is now broadcast on Your Money and features airlines, hotels, destinations, travel accessories and much more.

James is also Chair of Laureate Australia Hospitality's Industry Advisory Board and Deputy Chair of the Young Garvan committee at the Garvan Research Foundation.

In 2003, James co-founded the HM Awards (Australasia's largest hotel awards) and in 2010, the AHICE Conference, also the region's largest.

He Chairs the Content Committee for AHICE and is the Chief Judge and co-organiser of the HM Awards.

James has also been a guest on Channel 7's 'The Morning Show', radio 4BC in Brisbane and 3AW in Melbourne, and is formerly the Editor-In-Chief of Hilton, Australian Hotelier, Signature Cocktails and bars&clubs magazines. Prior to this, James was at Courier Newspapers.

James was named 2008 Travel Writer of the Year for Trade / Industry by the Australian Society of Travel Writers, while in 2003, James received the received the Golden Circle Award from Marriott International.

At the 2008 HM Awards, James screened a moving film (that he wrote, filmed, narrated, directed and produced) about the Sala Bai Hotel School in Cambodia that has since raised over 0,000.

In 2010, James was a finalist for Travel Writer of the Year at the National Tourism Industry Awards (NTIAs), presented by AFTA.

Penny has led the association since it was established in January 2010. This collective voice of independently owned and operated lodges and camps helped shape and define Australia's high-end experiential travel. Penny is a director on the Board of Tourism Tasmania and serves on the inaugural Condé Nast Traveler Global Advisory Board. She is also a Mentor for The Conscious Travel Foundation and has served on the Virtuoso Sustainability Council 2022-2024.

Penny led the development of Tourism Australia’s Sustainability strategy March 2020 - August 2024, the aim of which is to advocate, educate and elevate the many sustainability legacy stories of Australian tourism, meeting and growing consumer demand, and encouraging industry capability. Penny led the development of Tourism Australia’s premium and luxury strategy 2017-2020.

Director of Hook Communications, a boutique PR consultancy servicing the hospitality, tourism and lifestyle sectors. Clients include Visit Sunshine Coast, Kakadu Tourism, the Schwartz hotel group (hotels include Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour, Crowne Plaza Hunter Valley, Fairmont Resort Blue Mountains, Novotel Newcastle, Mercure Sydney, Mercure Canberra and the new Four Points by Sheraton at Central Park Sydney), the Tank Stream Hotel Sydney and a range of other hotel and tourism companies.

Hook Communications was established by Peter Hook, one of the industry's most experienced communication professionals, with over two decades in senior management positions at Accor and Southern Pacific Hotels.

Sarah Anderson is the founder and managing director of GTI Tourism, a tourism marketing and PR agency currently representing Globus Family of Brands, Japan National Tourism Organisation, New York State, Park City, Singapore Tourism Board, Travel Texas, Vanuatu Tourism Office, Visit Seattle and YTL Hotels.

As a teenage environmental campaigner, Sarah dedicated three years to organising Queensland's Youth Earth Symposium. She joined the tourism industry in 1998 and shortly after founding marketing & PR agency GTI in 2006, Sarah conceptualised and founded Treadright on behalf of The Travel Corporation.

Sarah currently sits on the Greenpeace General Assembly Group, the entity responsible for Greenpeace's governance. Her company GTI conducts an annual sustainability audit and is progressing towards BCorp certification.

Sarah was awarded as Travel Weekly's Mentor of the Year in 2016, served as Committee Member of the Council of Australian Tour Operators (CATO), and Chaired the Association National Tourist Office Representatives (ANTOR). She is a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Director (GAICD).

Let's cut to the chase. The thing is, Shelley knows Queensland. After all, she was born in Brisbane, raised on the Sunshine Coast, worked in Tropical North Queensland, and she's spent decades travelling this turf; first as a backpacker and then as a cashed-up corporate.

So, if you want to know about that secret craft brewer in Brisbane, the trending blue nomads boating the Whitsundays, or the subtle differences between Burleigh and Broadbeach, then just ask her. She can package the response in a media release, write up a blog or just talk about it nonstop. And, if she doesn't know, then she will find out.

Shelley also worked for Tourism Australia, so shey gets why this entire country is so special. And Shelley lived in Asia for over a decade and in Europe and the USA for a couple of years, so she understands what makes you tick and turns you off.

Shelley has also worked in PR for Dreamworld and WhiteWater World, and Hilton Hotels Corporation.

Stephen is a Marketing Communication professional with a variety of experiences spanning over 15 years in several different industries and cultural backgrounds, having lived in Australia, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.

Stephen began his career studying at QUT in Brisbane whilst running the Marketing and Promotions for several high-end hospitality venues. To further progress his career, he relocated to Sydney in 2007, working at The Popcorn Group, running the PR and Marketing for the national social beach volleyball festival SLAM.

In an extreme change of direction, in 2008, Stephen moved into the car industry, working for the multi-national car company Hyundai Motor Company. Whilst at Hyundai, he oversaw a complete brand change in the company, launching several new vehicles and implementing a new direction in their PR practices.

In July 2012, Stephen felt the need to return to where it all began in hospitality, joining one of Australia's largest hospitality and entertainment companies, EVENT. At EVENT, he successfully launched the designer hotel brand QT Hotels & Resorts in the Australian and International markets whilst also overseeing the company's group communications across EVENT businesses such as Event Cinemas, Rydges Hotels, and Thredbo Alpine Resort, among others.

In 2017, Stephen furthered his education by completing the Strategic Marketing Management course and the renowned Ivy League University Harvard.

In March 2018, he joined the designer hotel collection Ovolo as Director of Marketing during a rapid expansion period across several different regions.