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NEW YORK, July 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Australia's Tourism New South Wales (NSW) is the exclusive launch partner of the Life Points Facebook application, giving modern-day nomads a forum to share and aspire to adventures in Sydney, Australia - the city that enhances life experiences like nowhere else on earth.

The application http://getlifepoints.com challenges users to embrace life by recording past experiences while opening their eyes to new experiences that enhance their travel portfolio. Users can browse the Life Points database to find a "Life Experience" and then add it to either their "Life Goals" list by clicking "Want To" or to their "Life Points" scoreboard by clicking "Done It." Whether climbing to the summit of the Sydney Harbor Bridge or camping out on Cockatoo Island, every new experience earns users Life Points that are added to the counter on their profile page.

Life Points users can also challenge each other to see who has the most achievements while learning more about what Sydney has to offer. Featured experiences and goals are scored on a scale of 1-to-100, as voted by the Life Points community. In addition, users can connect with friends who share similar goals as well as get advice from those who have already collected Life Points for a particular experience. The user-friendly application allows members to update their profile and personalize their experiences for their friends to view.

NSW Minister for Tourism Jodi McKay said Life Points encourage friendly competition and community interaction where users who are passionate about Sydney can connect and in turn be inspired to expand their 'To Do' list.

"This is an innovative way to connect with this audience and highlight all the fantastic life experiences Sydney and NSW have to offer," Ms. McKay said.

The application is currently live online at http://getlifepoints.com and is supported by a campaign site on Sydney.com (www.sydney.com/youth) as well as by social networking sites including www.youtube.com/seesydney and www.myspace.com/mysydney.

Youth travel represents more than 37 percent of New South Wales' total international visitor arrivals, 60 percent of international visitor nights, and 53 percent of total international tourism expenditure in Australia. Facebook is the most used social network by worldwide monthly activity, with more than 60 million active users in the United States - many in the 18-30 year old target demographic of Life Points.

For more information please visit, www.facebook.com/seesydney .