While the Australian Tourist Commission's www.australia.com serves the leisure traveler well, it's not much use to a serious meeting planner. ATC has remedied the e-information gap with its new www.meetings.australia.com.

The site serves as a portal to all kinds of meeting-related information, but its best features are especially helpful to those planning incentive programs. Besides serving as a centralized source of contact information and links for convention bureaus, convention centers, the ATC, airlines, rail, the Australian news media, and arts and cultural organizations, the site has a directory of major destination management companies that have track records with the U.S. market. offices. It also features 15 incentive travel itineraries, sketching out the possibilities of, for example, a seven-day trip to Sydney and the Whitsunday Islands or four days in the Gold Coast and Queensland. Another source of ideas at the new site is the ATC's Walk About quarterly e-newsletter. You can read it online or subscribe.

Planners can also shop online. ATC sells teaser items such as clip-on koala pins, maps, miniature didgeridoos, and an Aussie slang dictionary to help keep Australia on the top of potential attendees' minds.