New campaign with Qantas kicks off in Japan

Tourism Australia and Qantas have kicked off a new joint marketing campaign in Japan to promote the airline’s new service between Kansai (Osaka) and Sydney commencing on 14 December as well as their existing services between Tokyo and Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. The campaign also promotes other destinations around Australia accessible through Qantas’ extensive domestic network. The campaign will run in digital and out-of-home media at train stations and on trains in Osaka and Tokyo and is estimated to reach 20 million Japanese consumers. The Japan inbound market is currently booming for Australia. In the year ending June 2017, Japan ranked as Australia’s fifth largest inbound market based on visitor arrivals and expenditure.

ATE18 Media Marketplace

Applications are open until Friday 12 January for Australian tourism products and experiences to attend the ATE18 Media Marketplace from 13 to 14 April 2018 in Adelaide. ATE18 Media Marketplace provides an opportunity to meet exclusively with international and domestic media for one-on-one appointments and networking events.

Popular Indian TV show shoots 10 special episodes Down Under

Tourism Australia and Tourism and Events Queensland teamed up with one of India’s leading Kannada language television series, Radha Ramana, to film 10 special episodes set in Australia. Iconic attractions and locations in Queensland including the Gold Coast and Brisbane were featured with the lead characters Raman and Aradhana. Their romantic escapade helped us to build Australia’s awareness among 8.6 million viewers. The state of Karnataka in India is the third largest source market from India, with approximately 30,000 tourists visiting Australia for the year ended June 2017.

WeChat launches new Australian city guide for Chinese travellers

China’s biggest social media platform, WeChat, launched City Experience Sydney guide last week providing Chinese tourists with a new way to navigate key places of interest via the WeChat platform. “We know that the Chinese tastes in tourism are maturing and their interests are increasingly focused on individual, experiential travel. It is great that as an industry, we can tap into the potential of the largest social mobile app in China to deliver more destination information on demand to high-value Chinese FIT travellers,” said Tourism Australia’s Andy Jiang, Country Manager, China. The guide was produced as a pilot in partnership with Tourism Australia.

Chef Jock Zonfrillo shares Aboriginal inspirations in Brazil

One of Australia’s top chefs, Jock Zonfrillo of Adelaide’s Orana restaurant, shared his Aboriginal inspirations at a four-day food festival hosted by Brazil’s top food publication, Prazeres da Mesa. Jock, who was hosted by the Australian Embassy in Brazil, held a talk and cooking class for media and industry and also cooked at a special dinner at restaurant Dalva & Dito with owner and chef Alex Atala (pictured). Tourism Australia worked with media Estadão, O Globo and Mastercard Black Magazine to share his story as part of ongoing promotion of Australia’s food and wine experiences.

The ‘Great Australian Airfare Sale’ returns in India

Tourism Australia in partnership with eight leading airlines has unveiled the third version of The Great Australian Airfare Sale offering Indian travellers very attractive return economy airfares Down Under. The offers run for three-weeks until 21 November and are being promoted online and through Tourism Australia’s key distribution partners in India. The airlines involved are: Air Asia, Air India, Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Scoot, Singapore Airlines, and Thai Airways. For the year to June 2017 India was Australia's fastest growing inbound market for expenditure with total spend up 29.5 per cent.

Aussie Specialists from Germany visit Australia

The South Australian Tourism Commission and Tourism and Events Queensland recently hosted 20 Aussie Specialists on a mega famil to Australia. In addition to the Aussie Specialists being able to experience South Australia and Tropical North Queensland firsthand they also received product training from operators at workshops in both Adelaide and Brisbane. This activity formed part of the Aussie Specialist Program which is Tourism Australia’s global online training program providing frontline travel sellers with the knowledge and skills to best sell Australia. There are currently over 2,500 qualified Aussie Specialists in Germany and 30,000 globally.

Tourism Australia extends partnership with Garuda Indonesia

Tourism Australia and Garuda Indonesia have extended their partnership to continue promoting travel to Australia in 2017-2018. The last phase of the partnership in 2016-2017 saw major growth in passenger loads to Australia making it one of the airlines’ most promising international markets. The partnership will continue to focus on showcasing new and exciting Australian holiday experiences to Indonesian travellers via the airline’s gateways of Perth, Melbourne and Sydney. For the first time, it will also offer members of the GarudaMiles programme special discounted redemption points at selected times during the campaign period. Indonesia is currently one of Australia’s fastest growing markets, recording a 17% increase in visitors for the year ending August 2017.

New certified tour of Figure 8 Pools

Barefoot Downunder has successfully won the tender for a 3-year licence to run their Figure Eight Pools day tour in the Royal National Park, south of Sydney. The tour includes a hike along the Coast Track to the Figure Eight Pools, a picnic lunch at Garie’s Beach and swimming and exploring the Wattamolla lagoon and beach.

Top ways to experience Uluru

In alignment with the wishes of the traditional owners of Uluru Kata-Tjuta National Park, the Anangu people, the climb to the top of Uluru will officially close on 26 October 2019. However, there continues to be an array of ways to experience this important, sacred site including camel riding, helicopter tours and Aboriginal culture tours.

Port Douglas based Superyacht adds another custom built fishing vessel

Ocean Alliance has added a new vessel to the fleet accompanying their Port Douglas based yacht, Beluga. The custom built sports cruiser, Minke, will travel with Beluga as a fishing, diving and recreational vessel. It will assist Australia’s superyacht offering in capitalising on the premium fishing experiences in Tropical North Queensland.

 Melbourne Cup 2017

Outsider Rekindling has taken out the coveted Melbourne Cup 2017 in ‘the race that stops the nation’, bringing owner Lloyd Williams a record six Melbourne Cup wins. This year, international guests included Dutch supermodel Lara Stone and American actress Paris Jackson who joined hundreds of Australian and international celebrities in watching the race from exclusive vantage points such as The Birdcage Enclosure.

The motivations of American, British and Chinese travellers

Travellers from three of the biggest travel markets in the world – US, UK and China – are searching, shopping and travelling differently according to new research from Expedia and Northstar. However, when prioritising what is most important to them when making a travel decision, the majority of travellers said it was activities they would be doing on the trip that were more important than a good deal. For more research and trends related to international and domestic tourism and travel visit Tourism Australia’s Insight Files.

Tourism Australia offers sincere condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Bernie Schulz who had a distinguished career in Australia's travel and tourism industry.

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.

Tourism Tasmania has released its annual report for the financial year 2016-17.

Business Events Sunshine Coast in partnership with the Sunshine Coast Council have launched a Business Events Assistance Program to attract conferences, meetings and exhibitions to the region.