Regional publisher Australian Community Media is back in the travel business with a bookable website supported by content on its 14 daily mastheads.
A relaunch of the Explore travel brand sees content expanded across mastheads including the Canberra Times, Newcastle Herald and The Courier (Ballarat), and many of ACM's 120 other mastheads.
Head of content and travel Kate Cox said bringing Explore inhouse would allow them to leverage the experience of the publisher’s hundreds of journalists and editors.
A new website at exploretravel.com.au also enables holidays to be booked directly.
ACM chief customer and marketing officer Paul Tyrrell says ACM has an engaged audience of 4.3 million people, with a study with the University of Canberra showing regional readers are 30 per cent more likely than non-readers to travel within Australia in the next 12 months and 11 per cent more likely to travel overseas.
The study also shows that the desire to take a trip domestically is much greater among regional Australians with 78 per cent intending to travel within Australia in the next 12 months compared to 59 per cent of metro residents.
Travel editor Sarah Maguire (pictured) has been appointed to lead the Explore team, with Akash Arora as deputy editor.