WHY IT RATES: Two travel advisors from the U.S. and one advisor from Canada will serve as the first Aussie Specialist ambassadors. —Janeen Christoff, TravelPulse Senior WriterAfter a rigorous judging process, one Canadian and two US travel advisors have been chosen as each of their region’s first-ever Aussie Specialist Ambassadors and will join a tailor-made trip Down Under to experience and share incredible Australian experiences with other international travel sellers.Amanda Kelly from Live Well Travel in Minnesota, Lesley Stone from Legacy Travel in Texas, and Marsha Ramage from Carlson Wagonlit Travel in Ontario were announced as the deserving winners by Tourism Australia at a special advisor training event in Los Angeles on February 7.MORE Travel Agent Tourism Australia managing director John O’Sullivan said frontline travel sellers are a critical part of the travel distribution system and the Aussie Specialist Ambassadors will create peer-to-peer advocacy amongst the network of advisors throughout North America.“The Aussie Specialist Ambassadors will come Down Under to have a fantastic time experiencing our world-class tourism products and share their enthusiasm and insights with other travel sellers in their home market,” said O’Sullivan. “We hope content created by the Ambassadors will help other Aussie Specialists improve their product knowledge, encourage more frontline travel sellers to sign up to the program and ultimately help more people book fantastic Australian holidays.”The winners will travel to Australia in March and explore various parts of the country, while a light-touch camera crew will record their experiences.Jane Whitehead, Tourism Australia’s vice president for the Americas, said the competition was a great success with a large increase in travel advisors becoming qualified Aussie Specialists during the campaign period, as well as a huge spike in engagement with Aussie Specialist content.“By becoming a member of the Aussie Specialist Program, advisors gain access to bespoke training modules and sales resources, travel offers from Australian operators, invitations to attend exclusive Australia events and regular product updates and training webinars,” said Whitehead.Further information about the Aussie Specialist Program is available at AussieSpecilaist.com for advisors and Tourism.Australia.com for travel media.The Aussie Specialist Ambassador Program competition invited North American travel advisors to submit a video pitch to join a fam Down Under and share the experience with other international travel sellers. SOURCE: Tourism Australia press release.