United launches new non-stop daily Houston to Sydney service

Tourism Australia and Destination NSW this week supported the launch of United Airlines’ new daily Houston to Sydney service attended by over 100 media, tourism industry and government leaders. The new route connects more than 70 cities across North America to Australia through Houston and is the longest route ever flown by a US airline. To promote the service Destination NSW will launch a March advertising campaign promoting Vivid Sydney and has also supported famils for United Airlines’ VIP clients and US media on the inaugural flight. The US is Australia's third largest inbound visitor market by arrivals with 777,500 Amercians visiting Australia for the year to November 2017, up 9.8% on the previous 12 months.

#24MillionMates

Tourism Australia is encouraging Australian tourism businesses to take part in its upcoming #24MillionMates campaign in the UK by recording a 4-5 second selfie video in landscape format on a smartphone saying “Hi mate” or “G’day mate”. Videos should be emailed to casting@flarebbdo.com by 31 January.

Facebook’s changes - advice for Australian travel brands

On 12 January Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced “a major change to how we build Facebook” to help users have “more meaningful social interactions.” As Facebook roll out these changes over the next few months, users will start to see more content from friends and family in their newsfeed and less from brands, publishers and celebrities. While it is unknown how significant the change will be for brands, Tourism Australia’s Global Manager of Social Media Nick Henderson published an article offering six suggestions for Australian travel brands.

Australian icons showcased to nearly 4 million Chinese

The Australian Open and iconic Australian destinations are on show as a group of influential Chinese travel media explore Australia. The media personalities and social influencers, who have a combined audience of nearly 4 million, have been immersing themselves in famous Australian experiences in New South Wales and Victoria over the last week. Facilitated by Tourism Australia, Visit Victoria and Destination New South Wales, activities included surfing at Bondi Beach, cruising the Great Ocean Road, and watching the world’s top tennis players at Rod Laver Arena.

Lord Coe made Friend of Australia

In the lead up to the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, Australia's Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Steven Ciobo has announced International Association of Athletics Federations President and Former British Olympic Association Chair, Lord Sebastian Coe, has officially been made a Friend of Australia. Minister Ciobo said Tourism Australia’s Friend of Australia program is a network of opinion leaders acting as passionate advocates for our country, sharing their personal and authentic Australian stories through their networks.

Exclusive Women’s Weaving Workshop in East Arnhem Land

Kakadu Cultural Tours and Diverse Travel Australia have launched a Women’s Weaving Workshop which combines this traditional cultural activity with an adventure in the spectacular Kakadu National Park and into West Arnhem Land. Each day will be spent out on country with the Aboriginal female artists. They will teach guests how to collect Pandanus and other raw plant materials suitable for weaving and prepare the fibres for dying to then create their own piece of handcraft to take home. The tours will run from 12-17 August 2018.

FNQ Nature Tours joins Australian Wildlife Journeys

Australian Wildlife Journeys has announced FNQ Nature Tours as the latest operator to join the member-based consortium. James Boettcher established the Cairns based tour company three years ago, driven by the belief that responsible tourism is an integral component of conserving the world famous Wet Tropics World Heritage area. The region is one of the world’s most important areas for biodiversity, with 2800 plant species and 663 vertebrate animal species, including 65 percent of Australia’s fern species.

New luxury walking tour on the Bibbulmun track in WA

Walk into Luxury  has launched a new luxury walk option on the Bibbulmun Track. The 6 day walk showcases a section of the Bibbulmun Track from Albany to Walpole, with 5 nights spent at the luxury villas of Parry Beach Breaks, a boutique property overlooking native bushland and breathtaking beaches.

New Segway tours launch in Kings Park, Perth

Ahead of the Australia Day long weekend, Segway tours have launched in Kings Park and Botanic Garden, helping to boost to the tourism offering in the heart of the city. The Kings Park Segway Tour will take in views of the city and Swan and Canning rivers for up to 10km, providing another unique way to enjoy the many wonderful features of the park.

Latest international visitor statistics

Australia welcomed 8.8 million visitors for the year ending November 2017, an increase of 7.1 per cent. Leisure arrivals continued to drive international arrivals growth, with an increase of 7.3 per cent over the 12-month period. New Zealand remains Australia’s largest market by number of visitors, closely followed by China which is expected to take the top position soon due to double digit growth. Tourism Australia has published an interactive dashboard of the Australian Bureau of Statistics arrivals data over the past five years.

China-Australia Year of Tourism survey

The China-Australia Year of Tourism in 2017 celebrated the close relationship between the two countries and recognised the importance of the China market for Australia’s tourism industry. Now that the celebrations have come to an end the Australian Government is seeking feedback from Australian industry about the year. There are 15 questions and the survey takes about five minutes to complete.

Trailfinders’ British founder ‘Honorary Australian of the Year’

Mike Gooley, the founder of travel agency Trailfinders, was recognised as the ‘Honorary Australian of the Year’ at the annual Australia Day Foundation Gala Dinner in London last Saturday. Mike opened Trailfinder’s first office in 1968 and has led it to become the UK’s largest independently owned travel company and the number one tour operator into Australia booking one in six of all holidays from the UK to Australia. Photo from left: Dr Geordan Shannon, Young Australian Achiever of the Year in the UK; Mike Gooley, Honorary Australian of the Year; Germaine Greer, Australian of the Year in the UK.

Australia Now program in Japan announced

The best of Australian innovation, lifestyle and creativity will be on show in Japan from April to November as part of Australia now, an eight-month program presented by the Australian Government showcasing contemporary Australia. The program, held in one focus country each year, is funded through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade together with corporate partners. The full Australia now program is available at www.australianow2018.com. Japan is Australia’s sixth largest inbound tourism market with 434,000 visitors for the year ending November 2017.

Tourism Australia industry briefings in WA and VIC

Tourism Australia is holding free of charge industry briefings on Wednesday 21 February in Margaret River , Thursday 22 February in Perth and Wednesday 28 February in Melbourne alongside VTIC’s Visitor Economy Forum. The briefings offer industry the opportunity to hear about Tourism Australia's strategic and creative direction for attracting international visitors to Australia as well as resources and support for tourism businesses.

Tickets are on sale for the 2017 Qantas Australian Tourism Awards to be held in Perth on Friday 23 February.

Registration is open for the 2018 WYSE Exchange Australia Youth Tourism Conference to be held on Wednesday 9 May at the Ovolo Woolloomooloo Hotel in Sydney.

Applications are open until Friday 2 March for the International Wine Tourism Competitive Grants program for tourism marketing and events, infrastructure and innovative products or services targeted at attracting international wine tourists.

Applications are open until Wednesday 7 February for Round 9 of the Queensland Destination Events Program funding.

Registration is open for the World Tourism Forum's Talent Boost event which focuses on how to attract and retain young professionals within the industry, hosted in cooperation with the University of Brisbane on Friday 18 May in Brisbane.

Singapore Airlines has announced a restructuring of existing Singapore-Canberra-Wellington flights which will see the Canberra-Wellington flights de-linked and Canberra-Singpore increased to daily from the existing four times per week.

The integrated 194-room Mercure Brisbane Hotel and 218-room ibis Brisbane Hotel have been purchased by German asset manager Commerz Real in their first major Australian hotel acquisition.

Tourism NT will appoint a full-time representative in China through a public tender process to provide a full range of services including trade and consumer marketing and social media.

Early bird 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.

Applications are open until Wednesday 31 January for Tourism WA’s fifth annual Ni Hao WA in the Swan Valley on 19 March. The event will showcase Western Australia to key agents from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Tourism WA is inviting tourism businesses to participate in a campaign with Ctrip to promote Western Australia as a holiday destination to Chinese tourists.

The Northern Territory and Tasmania have been named in the New York Times’ list of ‘52 Places to Go in 2018’.