Parineeti Chopra shares Australian experiences with millions of fans

Bollywood celebrity and Friend of Australia Parineeti Chopra returned to Australia in April to enjoy more destinations and experiences and share them with her 36 million fans on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Parineeti’s two-week trip began in Victoria where she visited Melbourne’s laneways and iconic spots including the MCG, Yarra Valley’s vineyards and Phillip Island. She then made her way towards New South Wales to undertake the Sydney Harbour BridgeClimb and explore the Blue Mountains before heading on to Hamilton Island for deep sea diving and a picnic on Whitehaven beach.

Industry briefing in Darwin

On Wednesday 16 May Tourism Australia and Tourism NT will co-host an NT industry briefing at the Oaks Elan Darwin. The free-of-charge event will present Tourism NT's 2018-2019 draft marketing plan as well as an update on Tourism Australia's strategic objectives and global market strategy.

Virtuoso to brings its Symposium to Australia in 2019

The leading global network for bespoke and experiential travel, Virtuoso, will bring around 500 of the most influential decision makers in the luxury travel industry to Australia in 2019 for a week-long program of conferences, networking events and destination immersion famils. Tourism Australia, along with Visit Victoria, are sponsoring the Virtuoso Symposium which will be held in Melbourne from 7-11 May. “This event will allow Australian tourism operators to engage with the travel advisors who are responsible for selling Australia to the world and show them first-hand what makes our country so special,” said Tourism Australia Managing Director John O’Sullivan.

Japanese radio listeners tune into Australia live broadcast

Australia’s culinary, aquatic and natural experiences were featured in a special nine-hour live radio broadcast in Japan last week. One of Japan’s most popular radio stations J-WAVE, which airs in the Kanto area where approximately 43 million people live, ran the special broadcast as part of its 30th anniversary special during Golden Week holidays. The broadcast featured a range of key influencers as guests and was supported by key distribution partners JTB, NTA and HIS with special travel packages. In 2017, Japan was Australia’s fifth largest inbound market for visitor arrivals and spend and sixth largest for visitor nights.

UK agents battle it out in ‘Great Australian Challenge’

Tourism Australia and Philippine Airlines (PAL) hosted a ‘Great Australian Challenge’ trivia night in London last week to help local travel agents build their destination knowledge. The fun night saw 17 teams battle it out with Audley Travel claiming the grand prize of free return flights to Australia with PAL for the entire team. Tourism Australia’s Regional General Manager for the UK and Northern Europe, Denise von Wald, said the challenge was a great way to engage front line travel sellers and help them sell Australia effectively.

360-degree footage of the red crab migration captured on Christmas Island

Parks Australia teamed up with Google Street View to capture a virtual journey of the red crab migration on Christmas Island. Australia’s Assistant Minister for the Environment the Hon Melissa Price MP said this was a tremendous partnership between Parks Australia and Google to showcase this natural wonder. “Christmas Island National Park staff and Google have captured striking 360-degree footage of the island and its keystone species - the red crab, and the results are nothing short of stunning,” Minister Price said.

Sydney Opera House’s resident seal talks for the first time

The Opera House has launched a new social chat bot giving punters Sydneysiders and visitors the chance to speak with the famous Sydney Opera House seal to discover more about the inspirational experiences on offer at the world-renowned performing arts centre. A giant 8-metre inflatable homage to the seal has popped up in Sydney Harbour to celebrate the launch of the bot.

Westin Hotels & Resorts opens in Perth

The five-star 368-room Westin Perth hotel has opened in Hibernian Place in Perth’s revitalised East End with a fitness centre and spa, outdoor infinity swimming pool and over 2300 square metres of event space. The hotel’s food and beverage offerings include acclaimed chef Guy Grossi’s first restaurant outside of Victoria, Garum, offering a contemporary Roman dining experience.

Yeppoon Lagoon Precinct in Queensland opens

Yeppoon’s foreshore has been transformed into a $53 million community space for locals and visitors with the opening of the Yeppoon Lagoon Precinct. Queensland’s Assistant Minister for Education and Member for Keppel Brittany Lauga yesterday officially opened the stunning new public space with Livingstone Mayor Bill Ludwig. “This is a landmark project for Yeppoon and the surrounding area that will boost tourism and the local economy while supporting local jobs,” Mrs Laugua said.

Federal budget 2018-19

Following last night’s Federal budget announcement, Tourism Australia will receive an increase in funding from 2018-19. This increase is due to foreign exchange adjustments in the short-term as well as additional funding in 2020-21 and 2021-22. Tourism Australia will see an increase over a four year appropriation of approximately $17 million. Further initiatives were announced including support of the tourism sector with $45 million in grants available through the Building Better Regions Fund. The fund will help to support initiatives to move tourists beyond the major cities and into regional areas.

World Youth and Student Travel Conference

Registration is open for the World Youth and Student Travel Conference (WYSTC) to be held in Edinburgh from 18-21 September. Any Australian operator who registers for WYSTC will be added to Tourism Australia’s ‘Australian Village’ saving operators the cost of a booth at the event. WYSTC is the leading trade event for the global youth, student and educational travel industry attracting over 600 delegates from around the world. The WYSTC program features business appointments, networking opportunities and seminars, workshops, panel discussions, and meetings with leading travel professionals covering topics and trends of relevance to the global youth and student travel industry.

Tourism Tasmania launched a new $6 million marketing campaign this week titled Feed Your Curious which will run in Sydney, Melbourne, South East Queensland and Adelaide until the end of August.

Margaret River Busselton Tourism Association has agreed to purchase Forest Adventures South West, a collection of high rope, zip line and adventure courses in the Tuart Forest National Park near Busselton.

Applications are open until Sunday 29 July for the NT Government's new Recreational Fishing Grants Scheme. One million dollars has been set aside for the scheme with $500,000 available in both the 2018-19 and 2019-20 financial years.

Singapore Airlines started flying its new Boeing 787-10 aircraft to Perth this week, adding 38,000 seats on the Perth-Singapore route annually.

Destination NSW has appointed Pascal Reiling as Business Development and Partnership Marketing Manager for Germany and France based in Frankfurt.

Registration is open until Friday 29 June for the Queensland on Tour Japan 2018 roadshow visiting Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo from 12-14 September.

Applications are open until Friday 6 July for Tourism Australia’s Advance Program to increase international visitation to confirmed business events being held in Australia.

Nominations are open for tourism awards around the country: New South Wales; South Australia; Queensland; Victoria; Tasmania ; Western Australia; Australian Capital Territory ; Northern Territory.

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

Nominations are open until Monday 28 May for the Queensland Young Tourism Leaders program.
Registration is open until Tuesday 15 May for the South Australia Industry Council’s SA Inspired Tourism Conference to be held on 29-30 May at the Hilton Adelaide.

Registration is open for the VIC Tourism Conference to be held on 30-31 July at the RACV Cape Schanck Resort.

Applications are open until Wednesday 30 May for the Queensland Destination Events Program.

Registration is open for Destination Food, Australia's first culinary tourism conference to be held at the Museum of Sydney on Monday 21 May.

Expressions of interests are being sought from potential delegates, speakers, exhibitors and sponsors for the Australian Indigenous Tourism Conference to be held from Tuesday 30 October to Friday 2 November in Lorne, Victoria.

Applications are open until Friday 11 May for ATEC's 2018 Emerging Leaders of Inbound Tourism Excellence (ELITE) program.

Registration is open for the City of Perth’s 2018 Perth Tourism Industry Exchange on Thursday 24 May at the Perth Arena.

Applications are open until 30 June for one-off support funding of up to $5,000 under the Northern Territory Government's China Ready Program.

Registration is open for the Tourism and Transport Forum’s Outlook Tourism Industry and Policy Conference to be held in Sydney on Thursday 17 May.

Tourism Australia has published recordings of presentations from the Destination Australia Conference held in Melbourne on Thursday 15 March. Industry are also invited to register interest for next year’s conference to be held on Thursday 14 March 2019 in Brisbane.