Phillipa Harrison

Ms Phillipa Harrison is the Managing Director of Tourism Australia, the Australian Government agency responsible for marketing Australia’s tourism experiences to the world.

In this role, Ms Harrison is responsible for driving Tourism Australia’s strategies to create sustainable demand for Australia’s tourism experiences internationally, and working with the tourism industry to support the sector’s recovery from the impacts of the events of 2020.

Prior to recent crises affecting tourism, Tourism Australia’s efforts were focused on supporting the sector towards achieving its Tourism 2020 strategy goals of growing overnight visitor spend to more than $115 billion annually. A goal which was achieved two years ahead of target, with overnight spend by international and domestic visitors reaching $117 billion in 2018.

Ms Harrison first joined Tourism Australia in February 2017 as Executive General Manager International, to lead the organisation’s international operations for Asia, the Americas, Europe and New Zealand as well as Global Distribution and Partnerships.

This role saw Ms Harrison have responsibility for Tourism Australia’s network of international offices spanning 12 countries as well as managing airline relationships and distribution channels, that are vital for attracting international visitors to Australia.

Prior to joining Tourism Australia, Ms Harrison spent six years working for Hamilton Island Enterprises and before that held a variety of globally-focused senior sales, marketing and product roles across ecommerce, retail and wholesale tourism platforms, based in both London and Sydney.

Ms Harrison holds a Bachelor of Arts (Mass Communication and Psychology) from Macquarie University and an MBA from AGSM at the University of NSW.