In this study, Pearce's "Travel Career Ladder" concept was applied to a sample of South Korean tourists to examine motivations for travel to Australia as holiday destination. Also focus group interviews were conducted in Korea to access visitor expectation, motivation and images of Australia. The initial findings from this study indicate that Koreans are primarily motivated to travel to Australia for the chance to experience natural environtment settings. Some aspects of Australia (e.g. aboriginal history and culture) are little known in Korea but have the potential to attract Korean visitors. The result of this research may enable more effective marketing to Koreans by providing an insight in the most appropriate promotional content and information sources.