Tourism Australia and Amway, the world’s largest direct selling company, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), marking the first time such an agreement has been forged.

The objective of the partnership is to help Australia attract more of Amway’s Leadership Seminar and Diamond Invitational group incentives in the future.

When asked what was the motivation behind the signing, Asha Gupta, Amway’s chief operating officer, told TTGmice that the MoU was a “great opportunity to keep Australia as one of our key destinations”. It also helped that “Tourism Australia showed great interest in forging this partnership”.

She added: “When we have a partnership with a destination like that, we know we can expect the very best from them. They are willing to go and above and beyond to support our incentive groups, demonstrating that through the various trips we have done.

“It is easier when we have a tourism board who understands our values, what we are trying to bring to the table, and can be a thinking partner. Experience is important, but thoughtfulness from the welcoming country is also very critical because it helps us curate the best experience for the groups.”

Amway affiliates have been hosting groups to Australia since 1985. Just last month, Melbourne hosted 16,000 Amway China incentive delegates across six waves for its 30^th Anniversary Leadership Seminar – the largest incentive group in history to visit Australia, and the biggest outbound incentive group ever arranged by Amway from China.

Australia has also hosted several other Amway incentive groups in recent years. This includes 730 delegates on the Gold Coast in 2019, 1,000 delegates in Perth in 2024. Later this year, another 2,700 delegates will be in Cairns for the Amway Korea Leadership Seminar.

Tourism Australia’s executive general manager for commercial & business events, Robin Mack, shared: “We have had a strong partnership with Amway for over 40 years, but this MoU takes it to another level so we can attract even more Amway events to Australia in the future. It will help keep Australia top of mind, and there will be more opportunities for us to share why the country is the perfect destination for future Amway events.”

Securing more Amway incentives would also provide a huge boost for Australia’s business events industry. For instance, more than 80 businesses took part in the Amway China 30^th Anniversary Leadership Seminar, including 66 restaurants and eight hotels. Moreover, a number of delegates also joined extension trips to other Australian cities Sydney and Hobart, which Mack noted that “dispersal is what we want”.

He pointed out that the “sheer scale and diversity” of experiences throughout Australia will continue to evolve and improve, giving companies like Amway “many reasons” to choose Australia.

As for whether other MoUs with other destinations will be signed in the future, Gupta indicated the company is “open to discussion”.