Mantra CEO Bob East to lead Tourism Australia as Chair

Australia's Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, the Hon Steven Ciobo MP, announced new appointments to the Tourism Australia Board of Directors this week. Existing Board member Bob East, who has more than 20 years’ experience in the tourism industry, will take up the position of Chair. Anna Guillan AM, also an existing Board member, will assume the position of Deputy Chair. Tourism Australia will also welcome two new Board members: Bradley Woods, one of Australia’s leading advocates for the hotel, hospitality and tourism industry; and David Seargeant, CEO and Managing Director of Event Hospitality and Entertainment. Minister Ciobo also thanked retiring members Tony South and Andrew Fairley for their contribution to the tourism sector. (Photo from left: Bob East; Minister Ciobo; John O’Sullivan).

Record international visitor spending

International visitors spent a record $40.6 billion in the year to June 2017, an increase of 7 per cent on the previous year. Chinese tourists continue to have the biggest impact on our economy with 1.2 million visitors spending $9.8 billion. Both are increases of 10 per cent. This growth comes during the China-Australia year of Tourism. Find out more.

Over 100 million Chinese viewers tune into Australia

Two episodes of Chinese reality TV series We Are In Love filmed in Sydney and Cairns aired over the last two weeks on Jiangsu Television Network reaching approximately 100 million TV viewers as well as a further 39 million viewers online for each episode. The stars of the episodes, actress and model Wang Ou and actor, TV presenter and singer Ming Dao, were filmed in Sydney exploring Circular Quay and cooking a meal together at the Sydney Seafood School at Sydney Fish Market and in Cairns enjoying an Aboriginal performance, meeting koalas at Rainforestation Nature Park and a thrilling bungy jump at AJ Hackett Cairns.

Australia ‘Destination of the Month’ with Hanatour in South Korea

Tourism Australia and South Korea's largest travel company, Hanatour, signed their largest partnership for the year naming Australia as the ‘Destination of the Month’ for September. In its 4th consecutive year, the partnership has continued to grow with the latest iteration also targeting the Busan market for the first time. The Aquatic and Coastal themed content will utilise a diverse range of online and offline platforms to drive conversion into the peak periods for Koreans traveling to Australia.

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary’s cute koala enchants Parisians

A new Tourism Australia banner has been unveiled on the Australian Embassy in Paris near the Eiffel Tower - one of the most photographed monuments in the world. The banner makes use of a very prominent space to promote Australia to locals and international visitors passing by. The photo of a cute koala from Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on Queenland's Gold Coast, will take up residence on the building for the next six months.

Australia showcased to American Society of Travel Agents

Tourism Australia sponsored a destination workshop, a tradeshow booth and VIP reception at the 2017 ASTA Global Convention in San Diego, 27-29 August, alongside Tourism and Events Queensland and 500+ industry advisors and suppliers. The ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents) network is the leading global advocate for travel agents, the travel industry and the traveling public, representing 80% of all travel sold in the USA through the travel agency distribution channel.

Indian celebrity Parineeti Chopra becomes a ‘Friend of Australia’

Bollywood actress Parineeti Chopra has joined Tourism Australia’s ‘Friends of Australia’ ambassador program to encourage more Indian holiday-makers Down Under. Parineeti will travel to the NT and Queensland and share her experiences with her 10 million followers on Facebook and Instagram as well as over nine million Twitter followers. “I’m all excited for my next trip to Australia, visiting Brisbane, Gold Coast and Ayers Rock, and would recommend everyone to experience the country once in their lifetime as there’s truly nothing like Australia,” she said. Tourism Australia’s Friends of Australia program helps to harness the power of globally influential individuals who have a genuine affinity with Australia.

Tourism Australia welcomes new JAL service to Melbourne

Japan Airlines (JAL) held an inaugural ceremony at Tokyo Narita Airport to celebrate their new direct flight from Tokyo to Melbourne. Tourism Australia and Visit Victoria have partnered with JAL on a series of marketing activities since July which include a broadcast program, advertising and events. A Melbourne press tour with seven media and trade famil with nine people will also be conducted from 6 September. Japan has bounced back since 2014 and recorded 413,800 visitors (+22.7%) in 2016. For the first six months in 2017, the visitor numbers have also increase 5.9%.

Airlie Lagoon reopens this month

Just in time for the start of the spring, Airlie Lagoon has reopened with a rejuvenated look and significant upgrades of their facilities. The refurbishment included repairs required following Tropical Cyclone Debbie.

Melbourne prepares for city-wide festival

Melbourne Festival is an 18-day celebration of arts and culture running from 4-22 October. The annual celebration will see the city transformed with pop-up art spaces, bustling theatres and bars packed out with festival goers over 18 days of film, dance, music, theatre and visual arts.

Alice Springs Desert Park launches Living Desert Experience

Alice Springs Desert Park has launched a new two-hour interactive guided tour, Living Desert Experience. Visitors will explore the secrets of the Park’s majestic natural environment followed by a breakfast around a campfire with billy tea and damper.

Australia’s most Instagrammable restaurants

Eat Drink Design Awards has revealed their 2017 shortlist, highlighting the most well-designed, architecturally innovative restaurants across Australia. The shortlist features a range of unique dining experiences from retro Chinese eateries, 1920s inspired hotel bars to moody wineries inspired by the surrounding landscape.

Internationale Tourismus Borse 2018

Seller applications are open until Thursday 14 September for Internationale Tourismus Borse 2018 (ITB18) to be held in Berlin, Germany, from 7 to 11 March. Tourism Australia will host an Australia stand and a wide range of participation options are available, such as sole and share booths, and day passes for three or five days. In 2017, ITB hosted 10,000 exhibitors from more than 185 countries and 196,000 visitors of which 120,000 were trade.

Family travel trends of 2017

The top three family travel trends of 2017 according to US travel network Virtuoso are active/adventure trips, beach resort stays and celebration travel and mother/daughter or father/son trips. Virtuoso surveyed 772 expert travel advisors to uncover the trends and also found Australia was among the top ten most popular family travel destinations for North American travellers. For more research and trends related to international and domestic tourism and travel visit Tourism Australia’s Insight Files.

Registration is open for the Tourism Marketing Rockstar Convention in Sydney on Thursday 14 September.

Registration is open for the Modern Travel Media Summit in Sydney on Friday 22 September.

Registration is open for the TTF 2017 Leadership Summit in Canberra on Wednesday 13 September.

Registration is open for ATEC Meeting Place 2017 in Perth from Monday 20 to Wednesday 22 November.

Registration is open for the 2017 WA Regional Tourism Conference on Monday 11 to Wednesday 13 September in Albany.

Tourism Australia’s fourth annual Destination Australia Conference (DestAus18), the top tourism marketing conference Down Under, will be held in Melbourne on Thursday 15 March 2018. Register your interest for DestAus18.

Tickets are available for the 2017 RACV Victorian Tourism Awards Gala Ceremony on Thursday 23 November at Palladiam Crown.

Registration is open for the Youth & Backpacker Travel Week Australia 2017 on Queensland's Gold Coast from Monday 6 November to Friday 10 November.

On Thursday 31 August the Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef website launched and the Citizens sculpture, designed by indigenous artist Brian Robinson, was unveiled on the Cairns esplanade.

The Department of Employment is calling for tourism and hospitality businesses to complete a 10 minute anonymous survey into supply and demand in seasonal tourism and agriculture work.

Tourism WA’s planned marketing activity calendars for 2017-18 are available online. The calendars are broken down into domestic and western hemisphere and eastern hemisphere markets.

Adelaide Convention Centre has completed the final stage of a $397 million redevelopment with the opening of the new East Building.

Organisers of new or second-year events in rural and regional NSW, from January to June next year, can now apply for funding under round one of the 2018 NSW Incubator Event Fund.

Tourism Tasmania's latest domestic marketing campaign, Go Behind the Scenery X, is now in market through to 27 October 2017.

Tourism and Events Queensland has published the Queensland Events Guide to ensure organisers are equipped to stage the best event possible and highlighting the important link between events and tourism.

Tourism Tasmania has published its Corporate Plan 2017-2020.

Hainan Airlines will fly twice a week between Shenzhen and Cairns with the capacity to bring 15,000 additional Chinese visitors to Tropical North Queensland each year.

Melbourne Tourism Week, an initiative of Destination Melbourne, runs from Monday 4 September to Sunday 10 September.

Air Canada will run three non-stop services a week between Melbourne and Vancouver from June next year.

The NSW Government announced plans to drive visitor growth to Western Sydney with the release of a Western Sydney Visitor Economy Strategy.

Destination NSW will work with Capital Airlines  and travel trade partners to develop and promote itineraries to NSW, with the carrier to commence three weekly services to Sydney from Qingdao on 29 October.