Aussie Specialists invited to become ‘Australian Ambassadors’

Tourism Australia has launched a global competition for qualified Aussie Specialist travel sellers to come Down Under on a famil and create inspirational content that will educate others on the country’s diverse tourism experiences and destinations. The lucky ‘Aussie Specialist Ambassadors’ will join a tailor-made trip around Australia in March 2019 to create content that will add another colourful dimension to the award-winning Aussie Specialist Program. Tourism Australia Managing Director John O’Sullivan said frontline travel sellers are a critical part of the travel distribution system and the new 'Aussie Specialist Ambassador' initiative was all about peer-to-peer advocacy. The Aussie Specialist Program is an award-winning training program that provides frontline travel sellers from around the globe with the knowledge and skills to best sell Australia.

Accessible tourism webinar

A recording of an accessible tourism webinar Tourism Australia hosted yesterday is now available to watch on demand. The webinar outlines the size of the market for travellers with accessibility needs as well as recent Australian research. Melbourne Cable Park also gave an update on their new Accessible Wakeboard Program.

New Expedia campaign launches in Germany

Tourism Australia is encouraging German travellers to take an ‘Australian Adventure’ with through a new promotion with Expedia which will run until mid-January. Visitors to Expedia’s German website are presented with an interactive quiz to help with trip planning as well as destination highlights and special travel offers to encourage bookings. Thai Airways is offering special fares for German travellers for four weeks of the campaign. The promotion is based on a successful Australian Adventure Expedia campaign in the US which ran earlier this year and is supported by Tourism and Events Queensland, Tourism Western Australia, Tourism Tasmania and the South Australian Tourism Commission.

Indian cricket fans encouraged to UnDiscover Australia

Tourism Australia has announced a new content partnership with ESPN in India to promote India’s upcoming cricket tour of Australia. ESPN has produced 22 videos with popular TV presenter and actor Shibani Dandekar exploring Australia and providing a new and fresh perspective on things to see and do Down Under. Expected to be viewed by 20 million people, the videos will be played during the match day analysis of the games each day on ESPNcricinfo’s app and website and will also be promoted extensively on their social media. The partnership forms part of Tourism Australia’s current UnDiscover Australia campaign activity in India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

JTB charters flights to the NT for Japanese travellers

After the success of two charter flights to Darwin in August, one of Japan’s largest travel wholesalers, JTB Corp, has operated four charter flights from Japan to Uluru via Alice Springs with Japan Airlines and Alliance Air this month. The charter services carried approximately 437 passengers over the four flights, with the visitors spenting two nights in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. JTB Corp has signed a memorandum of understanding with Tourism Australia and is currently running a nationwide campaign promoting holidays Down Under. Japan is currently Australia’s fifth largest inbound market for visitor arrivals.

Restaurant Australia tempts taste buds in China

Tourism Australia invited Friends of Australia Guy Turland and Mark Alston of Bondi Harvest (pictured) to host a cooking class for Chinese media and influencers in Shanghai this week. The event was part of the ongoing Restaurant Australia campaign to promote Australia’s remarkable food and wine to Chinese travellers. Also this week, Tourism Australia partnered up with 'mr willis', a renowned Australian restaurant chain in China, for a lunch in Shanghai with media and influencers. At the lunch Guy Turland, co-founder of Bondi Harvest, joined Craig Willis, the mastermind behind 'mr willis', to debut a new menu which will be available to the public through a Restaurant Australia pop-up.

UnDiscover Australia partnership roadshow in South-East Asia

Tourism Australia recently completed an UnDiscover Australia partnership roadshow in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia for key distribution and airline partners. The partners were introduced to the campaign in more detail and updated on how to integrate the UnDiscover Australia assets into marketing and PR activities as well as incorporating new experiences in product development. UnDiscover Australia is a $10 million campaign in South and South East Asia that Tourism Australia launched in September to challenge perceptions and stereotypes of what Australia offers the region’s travellers as a tourism destination.

Tourism Australia launches Premier Aussie Specialist Program in India

Tourism Australia has introduced a second tier to its Aussie Specialist Program in India with the introduction of the Premier Aussie Specialist Program. Premier Aussie Specialists are top selling Aussie Specialists in Tourism Australia’s priority markets. Membership in the program is an acknowledgement of the destination expertise, insider knowledge and strong ties the Aussie Specialists agents have with the Australian travel industry. As part of the launch, 70 agents from across cities including Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Ludhiana, Mumbai and Pune were inducted into the Premier Aussie Specialist Program by Tourism Australia’s Managing Director John O’Sullivan at an event in India this week.

Promoting Australia’s business events capability in China

Tourism Australia continues to raise awareness of Australia’s business events offering in China through activities including the Best Partner Program and training seminars. Approximately 150 business events agents attended business events training seminars in Qingdao and Beijing this month hosted by Tourism Australia in conjunction with Australian convention bureaux as well as Cathay Pacific and China Southern Airlines. Also this month, Tourism Australia and Australian industry partners hosted 20 key corporate buyers in Shenzhen as part of a two-day Best Partner Program event that included information sessions, networking events and team building activities.

Biota offers unique high-end farmhouse experience in NSW

Barn By Biota will open in early 2019 brining a unique ‘hyper-local’ restaurant and accommodation concept to Bowral in the Southern Highlands. Chef James Viles will introduce a ‘wild new way’ to celebrate local produce where guests can stay in sophisticated new loft accommodation and enjoy a high-end dining experience within the farmhouse barn. The evolving multi-course menu will feature the best ingredients of the day, week and month where culinary creativity will be harnessed by the natural surrounds of the countryside. Exclusive bookings are available now.

Park Hyatt Melbourne’s Canine Ambassador releases new book

Mr Walker, Park Hyatt Melbourne’s much adored canine hotel ambassador, has become the star of a new book: The Tales of Mr Walker. The much-adored blonde Labrador was originally trained to provide hotel assistance and companionship to people with low vision or blindness and is now celebrating over a year of greeting guests in the hotel lobby. A collaboration between Guide Dogs Victoria and Penguin Random House, the touching story of Mr Walker’s adventures can now be shared beyond the walls of the luxury 5-star hotel.

Leap and learn at Adelaide’s first inner-city aerial adventure park

TreeClimb Adelaide is Adelaide’s first ever inner-city aerial adventure park built within the natural environment of the city’s parklands. Offering a mix of adrenaline and education, thrill-seekers of all ages can now leap and climb through the Kurrunga Park treetops and learn about Adelaide’s surrounding parklands history on a guided tour. Seven courses fitted with over 70 ziplines, tight ropes and obstacles have been installed to suit every level of experience. TreeClimb Adelaide is taking bookings now.

Family farm offers strawberry-picking in South Australia

South Australia’s Beerenberg Family Farm in Hahndorf has officially opened for another season of organic strawberry picking. The popular family tradition offers ‘a taste of Beerenberg’ where guests are invited to roam the fields of the farm and collect a basket of their very own fresh strawberries. Located in the historic German inspired town of Hahndorf, Beerenberg Farm is just a 30-minute drive from Adelaide’s city centre. The strawberry season will operate from now until April 2019.

IMEX Frankfurt 2019

Registration is open until Friday 16 November to join the Australia stand at IMEX Frankfurt from 21 to 23 May 2019. IMEX is a key incentive travel, meetings and events trade show, where international planners and decision makers from the conference, convention and corporate events industries gather to do business. The show provides the Australian business events industry with the opportunity to meet influential international business events buyers in a structured appointment setting. Space on the Australia stand is limited and applications are on a first-come first-served basis.

ATE19 Media Program

Exhibitor applications are open until Friday 16 November for the Australian Tourism Exchange 2019 (ATE19) Media Program in Perth from 6 – 9 April. The program includes one-on-one appointments at the International Media Marketplace between Australian tourism businesses and select media and influencers who generate editorial, or create content on Australian tourism products, destinations and experiences for consumers. The ATE19 Media Program also includes networking sessions and events for media delegates and exhibitors.

Industry briefings in SA, TAS and NSW

Registration is open for Tourism Australia’s industry briefings in Adelaide from 2pm to 4pm on Friday 9 November at the Playford and Hobart from 2pm to 4pm on Friday 9 November at the Grand Chancellor ahead of the Tourism Awards Gala Dinners in each location. Tourism Australia is also holding an industry briefing in Sydney from 2pm to 4.30pm on Friday 23 November at The Hilton. The briefings will involve senior executives from Tourism Australia and State Tourism executives providing an update on current and future activity and sharing research and insights from key international markets.

Tourism Tasmania is partnering with North American travel agency Down Under Answers on a Fly Free to Tassie promotion on Virgin Australia.

Destination NSW has partnered with Dubbo Regional Council to deliver a $250,000 marketing campaign, The Great Big Adventures, focused on bringing families to the region during the upcoming school holidays.

A Queensland tourism campaign in the UK coinciding with the Royals’ visit reached almost four million people in the first two days.

Australia has been awarded the “Best Overseas Meeting & Incentive Destination of the Year (Long Haul)” by China Travel & Meeting Industry Awards 2018.

Applications are open until 2 November for grants of up to $250,000 for projects contributing to economic growth in regional Western Australia communities through the WA Regional Economic Development Grants Program.

Applications are open until Sunday 4 November for the Queensland Tourism Industry Council's 2019 Young Professionals Mentoring Program.

Applications are open until Sunday 4 November for the NSW Government's 2019 Incubator Event Fund to assist events in rural and regional NSW in areas such as marketing, public relations, venue hire and attendee research.

Registration is open for Tourism and Events Queensland's International Market Briefings in Cairns on Monday 12 November, Brisbane on Tuesday 13 November and the Gold Coast on Thursday 15 November.

Registration is open for the inaugural Adventure Tourism Awards and Youth Tourism Conference on the Gold Coast on Wednesday 14 November.

Applications are open until Friday 16 November for Tourism and Events Queensland's Queensland on Tour Greater China Mission from 5 – 8 March 2019.

Registration is open for the Australian Event Symposium to be held on the Sunshine Coast from 19-21 November.

Registration is open for ATEC Meeting Place 2018 which will take place from 19-21 November in Darwin.

Registration is open for Victoria's International Exchange to be held on Wednesday 5 December. VIE provides an opportunity for the Victorian tourism industry to receive an update on the latest international marketing intelligence from Visit Victoria’s overseas based Regional Managers.

Industry are invited to register their interest for the Destination Australia Conference 2019 to be held on Thursday 14 March in Brisbane.