Australia with Julia Bradbury launches in the UK

Last week Australia House in London welcomed over 200 guests to celebrate the launch of the new TV series ‘Australia with Julia Bradbury’. The program, which premiered last Thursday on ITV1, will run for eight weeks and is expected to reach two million viewers per episode in the UK alone. The travelogue sees Julia travel the length and breadth of the country to experience what modern Australia has to offer; from cosmopolitan cities and unique wildlife to ancient Aboriginal traditions and dramatic landscapes. Hosted in partnership with the Telegraph and Qantas, guests on the night included the Australian High Commissioner to the UK as well as trade partners who were treated to a preview of the series, along with delicious Australian food and wine.

Full year 2018 visitor arrival stats

Australia welcomed 9.2 million international visitors in 2018, an increase of 4.9 per cent on the previous year according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics report released this week. During the month of December there were 1.1 million visitor arrivals, up 4.2 per cent relative to the same period of the previous year.

#UnDiscoverAustralia continues across South East Asia

Australia’s states and territories are extending Tourism Australia’s successful UnDiscover Australia campaign across South and South East Asia with new content and ideas to challenge perceptions and stereotypes of what Australia offers the region’s travellers as a tourism destination. Visit Victoria kicked off the campaign extension activity in Malaysia featuring Victoria’s High Country and Wilson’s Prom. The South Australian Tourism Commission is urging Indians to go beyond the cities and explore surprises on Kangaroo Island, Port Lincoln, and the Barossa Valley. Meanwhile, Tourism Western Australia, Destination News South Wales, Tourism Tasmania, Tourism Northern Territory and Tourism and Events Queensland will progressively showcase the new, the hidden and the hip across all regions through to May.

American travel advisors Visit the Set of Dundee

Los Angeles-based travel advisors were hosted at a special cinema screening of Dundee: Visit the Set recently. The advisors were treated to Australian food and wine before viewing a screening of Dundee and undergoing training on Australian experiences. Qantas also provided an update on their services to Australia from North America. The US winners of the Aussie Specialist Ambassador Program were announced at the event and were presented with GoPros to record their experiences while on tour in Australia in March. The Ambassador competition has been a great success in the USA, with an 800% spike in Aussie Specialist Program registration during the campaign period.

Australia takes AIME at international business events

The Asia Pacific Incentives Meetings Event (AIME), Australia’s biggest business events trade show held in Melbourne, commenced on Monday with more than 300 exhibitors from around Australia including convention bureaux, convention centres and products coming together to do business with domestic and international business events planners. Business Events Australia, which is hosting the Australia stand, announced at the event that the value of business events secured with the help of Tourism Australia’s Business Events Bid Fund has almost doubled in the past three months to reach a new milestone of $187 million. Australia’s Minster for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham said the Bid Fund Program is providing a significant boost to Australia’s lucrative business events industry by attracting international events to our shores.

International media hosting program highlights

Tourism Australia has published a video featuring recent highlights from its international media hosting program which hosts up to 1,000 journalists, broadcasters, opinion leaders and digital influencers each year. The program aims to provide authentic Australian experiences which inspire media to produce exciting content showcasing the most engaging Australian characters and the best of the country’s food and wine, aquatic and coastal, Indigenous, nature and wildlife experiences. Each itinerary is individually tailored to meet the specific needs and story objectives of visiting media and the program involves up to 2,000 tourism operators, restaurants and accommodation suppliers every year.

Curtis Stone to headline Melbourne’s House of Food and Wine

Los Angeles-based, Melbourne-born chef Curtis Stone is returning home to join top Australian and international chefs at The House of Food and Wine as part of the 2019 Melbourne Food & Wine Festival (8-24 March). The House of Food and Wine will transform the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne’s Southbank into a premium drinking and dining destination on the opening weekend (8-11 March). Over three-days the theatre and its courtyard will be a hive of activity with food trucks, pop-up bars and tastings by day and gastronomical open-air feasts by night. The full three-day program as well as the menus designed exclusively for The House of Food and Wine are now available.

New Australian documentary series tells the magical story of OZ

A new three-part documentary, The Magical Land of OZ, has premiered on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) network. Narrated by Australian comedic icon, Barry Humphries, this enchanting series tells the story of Australia’s ancient land and the unique creatures that inhabit it. The first Australian produced natural history documentary in over 18-years, the series hopes to open the door for similar productions of its kind. Available to watch online within Australia at www.iview.abc.net.au, the remaining two episodes will air on Sundays at 7:40pm (AEDT) on ABC.

Aboriginal guided tours with Narlijia Experiences in Broome, WA

In addition to enjoying beautiful sunsets and magnificent beaches, visitors to the pearling town of Broome in Western Australia can learn the complete story of its fascinating past and present with local Yawuru man Bart Pigram on his Narlijia Experiences tours. Bart shares generational knowledge and recounts ancient stories of the saltwater Yawuru people through fascinating daily tours or cultural cruises of the Broome and Roebuck Bay region. Narlijia Experiences has recently joined the Discover Aboriginal Experiences collective that offer over 130 Aboriginal guided experiences spanning the breadth of the Australian continent in both urban and regional locations. 

New eco-resort to open in WA’s Rottnest Island 

Discover Rottnest Island will officially open early next month (1 March) and will be the first new accommodation on the island in over 30 years. Nestled behind the dunes of the iconic Pinky Beach, the resort offers 83 eco-tents in a range of styles suiting both budget and high-end travellers, interconnected via paths and walkways through the sand dunes and native landscaping. It will also feature Pinky’s Beach Club, which sits in the heart of the property and includes a resort pool, poolside bar and restaurant. A 90-minute ferry ride from Perth or 25 minutes from Fremantle, Discovery Rottnest Island is now taking bookings.

Destination Australia Conference 2019

Registration is open for Australia's top tourism marketing conference to be held on Thursday 14 March at the new Howard Smith Wharves in Brisbane. Tailor-made for Australian tourism businesses serious about attracting high yield international travellers, an impressive  line-up of experts have been hand-picked for the Destination Australia Conference to delve into the big issues and tackle today’s most important tourism marketing questions. Tickets are $450 including GST.

Tourism Australia Industry Briefing VIC

Registration is open for the 2019 VTIC Visitor Economy Forum and Tourism Australia's Industry Briefing Victoria on Tuesday 26 February. The combined events will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. A fee applies for attending the morning VTIC Visitor Economy Forum. Attending Tourism Australia's Industry Briefing in the afternoon is free-of-charge.

National tourism strategy consultation

Consultations are open until Friday 8 March on Australia’s next national tourism strategy , with industry stakeholders encouraged to have their say on a draft report developed by the Beyond Tourism 2020 Steering Committee. To assist industry with key points from the Report, an on-demand webinar has been published and registrations are currently open for a consultation meeting on 1 March in Launceston ahead of the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards.

Applications are open until Friday 22 February for Destination NSW's 2019 United Kingdom & Europe Roadshow taking place from Monday 13 May to Wednesday 22 May in Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg, Liverpool, Leyland, Manchester, London and Paris.

Tourism and Events Queensland is hosting a Great Barrier Reef forum in Brisbane on Thursday 28 February and engage directly with tourism operators to share consumer insights as well as TEQ’s strategic focus.

Applications are open until Thursday 28 February for Business Victoria's International Mentoring Program designed to give selected Victorian tourism operators the tools and knowledge to develop and market their products internationally.

Registration is open until 8 March for the Local Government NSW’s Tourism Conference on the 17-19 March at the Crowne Plaza Terrigal.

Registration is open for the Northern Territory's Tourism: Towards 2030 Conference on Wednesday 27 March in Darwin and on Friday 29 March in Alice Springs.

Applications are open until Monday 1 April the first round of funding to support 2019 as the Year of Outback Tourism in Queensland.

Tourism and Events Queensland has launched a new UK trade campaign to show travel agents the latest offerings and experiences of ‘Australia’s Nature Coast’, with the aim of attracting more British travellers to the Sunshine and Fraser Coasts.

The City of Sydney and Asialink Business are offering China tourism masterclasses for Sydney businesses on using digital platforms to engage with Chinese visitors, discovering the best products and services for the market and exploring new ways to boost revenue.

A summary White Paper on the South Australian Tourism Plan 2030 is now available, outlining the potential growth to the visitor economy in South Australia through to 2030.

Destination Southern Highlands and Southern Highlands Food & Wine Association has launched a new website for industry, www.shcorporate.com.au.