Australia from Above winners announced

Three winners have been chosen from 6,448 aerial photos of Australia submitted as part of the Australia From Above contest showcasing new, creative perspectives of landscapes around the country. Tourism Australia’s Chief Marketing Officer Lisa Ronson, who was also one of the competition judges, said she’d been blown away by the quantity and the quality of entries. “There are some amazingly talented photographers out there who are using drone technology to capture some breath-taking images of Australia,” she said. The competition was run by SkyPixel, the world’s most popular aerial photography community, and co-sponsored by Tourism Australia and drone manufacturer DJI.

Conversations with Industry

Tourism Australia is participating in Tourism and Events Queensland’s ‘Conversations with Industry’ events on the Gold Coast on Wednesday 14 June and in Brisbane on Thursday 15 June. The events are also held in partnership with Gold Coast Tourism and Brisbane Marketing.

US Facebook fans tune into live Sydney broadcasts

Sydney’s stunning harbour and beaches were shared with millions of American Facebook fans this month with the support of Tourism Australia. On Tuesday 16 May, National Geographic broadcast live from above Sydney in a helicopter to show viewers “one of the most beautiful harbours in the world.” The post has already had over 250,000 views and reached 1.9 million people making it National Geographic’s most popular Facebook event to date. On Wednesday 17 May Mark Ellwood, contributing editor for Conde Nast Traveler, broadcast live from Bondi Beach to take viewers on a 30 minute tour of the world-famous beach. The video has had over 100,000 views and reached more than one million people with thousands of shares and comments.

Restaurant Australia case study videos

Tourism Australia has produced a series of videos showcasing tourism businesses from around the country who are great examples of Restaurant Australia. The aim of the videos is to inspire more businesses to get involved in promoting Aussie cuisine as food and wine continues to become an ever more important aspect of the experience international visitors are looking for. View a highlights video or the full playlist of examples of creative tourism businesses around the country.

Vivid Sydney, 26 May – 17 June 2017

Vivid Sydney is the world’s largest festival of light, music and ideas, staged over 23 nights from 26 May to 17 June. The multi-award-winning winter festival of light, music and ideas returns to illuminate Sydney with exciting new precincts to explore, mesmerising new light art to inspire and plenty of entertainment for everyone.

Truffle Kerfuffle, Manjimup, 23 – 25 June 2017

Truffle Kerfuffle presented by Genuinely Southern Forests is a weekend of hands-on activities built around searching for and sampling the rare delicacy in the heart of truffle country. This year special guests Paul West and Rick Stein join a host of local and national culinary talent at this must-do event on WA's food and wine calendar.

Baldwin Distilling Company

Baldwin Distilling, located in Canberra, is one of Australia's newest distilleries specialising in American Style Whiskey (Bourbon) and using quality Australian raw materials. Tours are available for small groups by appointment, featuring bourbon, vodka and moonshine tastings, as well as unique cocktails.

Tall Trees Camping, Great Ocean Road

Nestled in bushland right next to the Great Otway National Park, Tall Trees Camping offers ‘comfy’ permanent tents set up along the famous Great Ocean Road. Guests camp amongst wildlife, minutes from surfing, fishing and swimming at the beach. Each of the tents are furnished with stretchers and thick mattresses and all linen and towels are provided.

Corroboree West 2017

Seller applications close tomorrow,Thursday 25 May for the inaugural Corroboree West 2017 on Queensland’s Gold Coast from 9 to 14 October. The event provides a professional forum for Australian sellers to train qualified Aussie Specialists from the Americas, United Kingdom and Europe and strengthen specific product knowledge. In addition, through familiarisation visits, the Aussie Specialists will have first-hand experience with quality Australian tourism products, enhancing their ability to promote and sell Australia.

India Travel Mission 2017

Seller applications are open until Thursday 1 June for participation at the India Travel Mission 2017 in Pune from 16 – 19 August. ITM is an opportunity for the Australian tourism industry to establish business relationships with key qualified travel agencies and tour operators in India. The Mission includes pre-scheduled meetings between buyers and sellers, and opportunities to network at the official event functions.

Walkabout South East Asia 2017

Seller applications are open until Monday 5 June for participation at Walkabout South East Asia 2017 in Bali from 25 – 28 September. The event provides an opportunity for Australian tourism businesses to develop relationships with product planners and decision makers representing outbound travel from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. It includes pre-scheduled meetings and opportunities to network at functions.

The booking trends of Chinese travellers

China’s travel market is soon set to become the world’s largest source of international travellers according to research conducted by worldpay, a payment services company. The research also found that one in four Chinese travellers complete their bookings on their smartphones, compared to the average of six per cent of travellers worldwide. For more research and trends related to international and domestic tourism and travel visit Tourism Australia’s Insight Files.

The first phase of ticket sales for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games closed this week with over 1.2 million ticket requests.

The NSW Government has announced it will triple the number of free webcasts for the state’s tourism operators this year, in response to the growing need for online learning among rural and regional tourism operators.

Early bird registration is open for the second annual NSW Regional Events Conference in Wagga Wagga from June 14 - 16.

A cooperative marketing campaign to drive visitation to Sydney and regional NSW has won ‘Australia & New Zealand Campaign of the Year’ at the Expedia Media Solutions 2017 Asia Pacific Partner Awards.

The next series of Tourism WA's ‘Just Another Day in WA’ promotional materials have been released to boost domestic promotion and appeal specifically to the Singaporean, Malaysian, Chinese, Indonesian and Japanese markets.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has appointed Richard Lindsay as the Manager of Australian Chamber – Tourism.

Qantas and Tourism Western Australia have partnered with TTG Media to launch a series of competitions and events for UK travel agents to celebrate the first-ever non-stop flight between the UK and Australia.

Australian sprinter Cathy Freeman OAM has become the sixth official Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (GC2018) Ambassador.

The Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) has partnered with Tourism WA to provide selected tourism products the opportunity to expand their businesses into the international market.

Visit Sunshine Coast, Tourism & Events Queensland and Air New Zealand have kicked off a new campaign, Sunshine by Lunchtime , to promote Air New Zealand’s non-stop seasonal service between 7 July and 29 October.

Registration is open for the Tourism and Transport Forum's Outlook 2017 Conference and inaugural Talking Tourism Luncheon on Friday 23 June in Sydney.