Queensland recovery campaign launches in Paris

An international campaign to bring tourists back to Queensland following Cyclone Debbie was launched in Paris last week by Australia’s Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, The Hon Steven Ciobo MP. Queensland’s Heart Reef, the Whitsunday Islands and the iconic Great Barrier Reef images are currently to be seen across 500 billboards in Paris. In addition to the outdoor campaign a 32-page supplement in French national newspaper Le Figaro will be available to 62,000 subscribers in June. Readers of the supplement will have the opportunity to start a virtual journey to Australia via virtual reality and the chance to win a trip to Australia. Tourism Australia is working with travel specialists Meltours and Australie Autrement to offer competitive travel deals as well as Tourism and Events Queensland and Visit Victoria to encourage French travellers to experience the many wonders both destinations have on offer. Find out more.

Latest visitor arrival stats

Australia welcomed 8.5 million international visitors for the year ending April 2017, up 9.5% which equates to an extra 731,000 visitors compared to the previous year. Growth was driven by the leisure segment (+10.5%), in particular by holiday arrivals (+13.8%).

Australia celebrates success in Canada

Tourism Australia celebrated double digit growth in arrivals from Canada - up 13% for the year to date - by hosting industry updates in Vancouver and Calgary last week. Over 100 industry leaders from airlines, wholesale, tour operators, agents and media joined together to hear news about the market’s improved momentum from only in Australia experiences to sell to added air capacity over the last year. The events also recognised the increased number of Aussie Specialist travel agents with over 600 qualified agents, a year-on-year increase of 54%.

Koreans tempted Down Under in new Facebook campaign

Following the successful broadcast of 10 episodes of Korean TV series ‘Wild Beat’ featuring 2PM in Australia, Tourism Australia has launched a major mobile campaign to attract Koreans to Melbourne and Uluru. The promotion uses video content from the program and will run on Facebook in Korea. Consumers are invited to select their own Australia ‘travel dream stories’ with the chance to win trips Down Under with joint sponsor Singapore Airlines. The 14 short video clips can be viewed at Australia.com and YouTube.

New youth and Working Holiday Maker infographics

Tourism Australia has produced two new infographics on the Youth and Working Holiday Maker segments. The youth market contributes 25 per cent of all visitor arrivals to Australia and 44 per cent of all visitor spend. The youth leisure segment spends more than any other leisure travel segment in Australia mainly due to higher than average length of stay and propensity to combine work, visiting friends and family, and holiday/leisure experiences. Find out more at www.tourism.australia.com/youth.

Consumer Demand Project video

Tourism Australia has created an explainer video highlighting the key insights drawn from the agency’s consumer demand research project over the past five years. The video illustrates the importance of the consumer research underpinning Tourism Australia’s campaigns, content and partnerships. This video has been developed as a tool to share with the broader industry, to ensure the consumer is at the heart of all marketing efforts.

Industry content on Australia.com

Tourism Australia’s content team is receiving a consistent flow of new submissions for the popular Australia.com site. Articles are featured across the site, showcasing new products, events, beautiful locations and unique itineraries. Tourism Australia is encouraging industry to submit content which is original, specific and consistent with its content templates. A set of guiding principles for creating content as well as helpful guides, story templates and examples have been published by Tourism Australia to support submissions.

ibis Styles Hobart to open July 2017

Hobart will welcome its largest hotel in July this year with the opening of the $50million new-build ibis Styles. The hotel boasts 296-rooms spanning 10 floors with a number of rooms featuring views over the River Derwent. Located just a short walk from Salamanca Markets, other features include a rooftop indoor heated pool, two saunas, a gymnasium and free wifi throughout.

New Bibbulmun Track walks

Walk into Luxury  has launched new tours on the Bibbulmun Track in Western Australia’s Great Southern region. The 4 day/3 night walk covers 43 kilometres of cliff-top coast-line and native bushland between Albany and Denmark, with guests retiring each night to two of the region’s best properties – the Beach House at Bayside and Cape Howe Cottages.

New development for Art Series Hotel Group

Art Series Hotel Group is set to open its eighth art inspired hotel this November. Named after and inspired by Chinese Australian artist Zhong Chen, The Chen will open in the emerging suburb of Box Hill in Melbourne. The hotel will reflect the cultural diversity of the area and Chen’s vibrant works which celebrate his transcultural identity.

Uluru now live on Google Maps Street View

Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park can now be viewed through an interactive, audio-visual guided tour, narrated by Sammy Wilson on Google Maps and Story Spheres. Over the past two years, Google has collaborated with Aṉangu Traditional Owners of Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park, Parks Australia and the Northern Territory Government to capture the park according to Tjukurpa law, helping to preserve and share the local Aṉangu culture.

Australia Day Honours list

Five exceptional Australians were honoured in The Queen's Birthday 2017 Honours List this week: Alan Joyce (AC) – CEO & Managing Director, Qantas Airways Limited; James Hogan (AO) – President & CEO, Etihad Aviation Group; Anna Guillan (AM) – Regional Director of Sales and Marketing, Australia & NZ, Kerzner International; Paul Thomas (AM) – Mayor, District Council of the Copper Coast; and, Garry Watson (AM) – Founder & Project Leader, National Capital Educational Tourism Project.

Asia Pacific shaping the future of travel

Four in five Asian travellers feel that travel is no longer a luxury but a necessity according to consultancy Kantar Futures which has produced an infographic on Asian travellers. The agency goes beyond standard segmentations to explore polarisation in behaviour and motivation to show the difference across travellers from Asia. For more research and trends related to international and domestic tourism and travel visit Tourism Australia’s Insight Files.

Applications for Tourism Australia’s Advance Program are open until 7 July. The Advance Program offers marketing partnerships between Tourism Australia and the Australian business events industry via a submissions and assessment process.

Applications are open for ATEC's 2017 Emerging Leaders of Inbound Tourism Excellence (ELITE) Program.

Ecotourism Australia has issued a call for papers for the Global Eco Asia Pacific Conference in Adelaide from 27-29 November.

Tourism and Events Queensland in conjunction with Australian Tourism Export Council and Qantas are holding a special inbound workshop in Sydney on Tuesday 25 July open to all Queensland sellers.

Tourism Tasmania is inviting operators to register their interest to participate in its Talkabout Tasmania Roadshow to be held from 31 July to 2 August.

Sydney will be the host city and Qantas the host carrier for the 74th annual general meeting of The International Air Transport Association, and its World Air Transport Summit, in June 2018.

Guinness World Records has awarded the Vivid Sydney installation, Dreamscape , with the title for the world’s ‘Largest interactive lighting display’

Tourism WA has launched a new international campaign  to target the Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) market.

Tourism Australia is continuing its sponsorship of the Association of Australian Convention Bureaux (AACB) Staff Scholarship program.

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

Applications are open until Friday 23 June for the first round of FestivalsNT’s 2017-2018 funding to support events that engage the local community and attract visitors to the Northern Territory.

Tourism and Events Queensland has published an International Tourism Snapshot for Queensland for the year ending March 2017.

The South Australian Tourism Commission has published an infographic and South Australian summary report of the latest International Visitor Survey results.

Sell TNQ 2017 will be held in Cairns from 17 - 20 November with a post-touring program to Palm Cove and Port Doulas between 20 - 22 November.

Destination NSW is running free webcasts in June with a focus for tourism operators to grow the Youth market and Aboriginal cultural tourism.

Tourism WA has published an article exploring five reasons Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia markets are important for Western Australian tourism.