Essentials this week… | G’Day USA | #DestAus18 | Australia Day celebrations | International Media Marketplace | Parineeti Chopra | and more…

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31 January 2018     Australian tourism promoted at G’Day USA Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs, The Hon Julie Bishop MP, and Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, The Hon Steven Ciobo MP, were in the US this week to promote Australian ideas, products and talents to influential US audiences as part of G’Day USA . Minister Ciobo delivered a keynote address at the annual Australian Tourism Summit and promoted Australia as a high-quality tourist destination. The G’Day USA program of events brings together industry leaders and key influencers in government, business, tourism, academia, and the arts to successfully cultivate and enhance the long-term and deep Australia–United States relationship. Photo: Matt ‘Outback Wranger’ Wright and Minister Ciobo.     31 January 2018     Destination Australia Conference 2018 Registration opened today for the fourth annual Destination Australia Conference to be held in Melbourne on Thursday 15 March. Tailor-made for Australian tourism businesses serious about attracting high yield international travellers, a line-up of expert speakers will tackle today’s most important tourism marketing questions.

TOURISM AUSTRALIA NEWS  Parineeti Chopra inspires Indians travel to Australia Bollywood actress and Friend of Australia Parineeti Chopra has released two videos showcasing her recent holiday in Queensland and the Northern Territory. The actress also sung the backing track to the video of her Queensland holiday with lyrics in Hindi that summarise the feeling of the places she visited. The videos have been well received on social media using the hashtag #ParineetiInAustralia. Parineeti's itinerary has also been published on Australia.com with links to products and experiences giving inspired readers the opportunity to book their own holiday Down Under. Celebrations in London to mark Australia Day Tourism Australia welcomed over 60 VIP guests to an exclusive event in London last week in celebration of Australia Day. The evening was an opportunity to thank those who promoted Australia as a travel destination over the past year and to inspire other influential media and industry figures to travel Down Under in 2018. Key UK travel media and industry attended along with special guest bushman Ray Mears whose recent TV series ‘Australian Wilderness with Ray Mears’ reached over two million viewers in the UK alone. Australia on show to North American media Tourism Australia was the headline sponsor for TravMedia’s International Media Marketplace in New York last week attended by more than 300 North American travel media. The Australia Pavilion at the event included ten destinations, products and experiences and Tourism Australia hosted a cocktail reception for more than 400 media and VIPS to coincide with Australia day Down Under. John O’Sullivan, Tourism Australia’s Managing Director, also presented to delegates about the Signature Experiences Program which packages and promotes experiences within a variety of niche areas and special interest categories. Aussie Specialist training days in Malaysia More than 100 Aussie Specialists participated in training sessions last week in Kuala Lumpur and, for the first time, Penang, Malaysia’s largest secondary tourism market. The training placed emphasis on self-drive routes, nature and wildlife, food and wine as well as aquatic and coastal experiences to help the agents prepare for the peak booking period at various upcoming travel fairs. The training days were supported by Tourism & Events Queensland, South Australian Tourism Commission, Tourism Western Australia and Tourism Northern Territory.

AUSTRALIAN STORIES  ICC World T20 Finals set to bowl in Melbourne in 2020 In a major coup for cricket fans, Melbourne will host the men’s and women’s finals of the ICC World T20 in 2020. The matches will be played at the world-renowned Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), highlighting Melbourne’s reputation as a sporting and global events city. The ICC World T20 is the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) ‘World Cup’ for its fastest growing and most popular tournament. Revitalised experience at Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse precinct in WA Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse in the south west of Western Australia has received extensive renovations worth over $1 million. Visitors can now enjoy panoramic ocean views from the new observation platform, beautifully landscaped lawns, refreshments from the restored lighthouse keeper’s cottage housing a brand-new café operated by Busselton’s popular restaurant The Goose and a nautical themed playground. Pinetrees Lodge on Lord Howe Island TripAdvisor’s 2018 Travellers’ Choice Awards has named Pinetrees Lodge on Lord Howe Island the Number 1 Hotel in Australia. Pinetrees offers guests the perfect subtropical beach holiday with world-class swimming, snorkelling, surfing, diving, fishing, and kayaking. In the milder months, they offer one of the best walking destinations in Australia with a diverse range of World Heritage listed landscapes in a compact area, including the 875 vertical metre climb of Mt Gower, which is one of the most stunning and daunting day walks in the world. Optus Stadium officially opens in Perth The world-class 60,000 seat Optus Stadium has officially opened in Perth providing more opportunities for Western Australia to host high calibre sporting, arts, and music events. Three major events have already been secured for the stadium, including an international friendly game between current Premier League champions Chelsea Football Club and Perth Glory in 2018, a Bledisloe Cup match in 2019, and game two of the NRL State of Origin Series in the same year.

INDUSTRY NEWS AND EVENTS  Australia Day Honours for tourism Tourism Australia wishes to pass on congratulations and thanks to the following people who received Australia Day honours for their contribution to tourism: Jason Garrett, TAS; Colleen Godsell, NSW; Peter Howard, QLD; Serafino Maglieri, SA; Richard Muirhead, WA; Peter Jones, VIC; Peter Vizzard, NSW. View the official list of recipients in the Australia Day 2018 honours list. 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. Tourism Australia’s events system upgrade Tourism Australia has upgraded its industry events systems to improve information about events and the registration process. As part of the upgrade the existing site, tradeevents.australia.com, will shut down permanently on 28 February and all event information will now be available at tourism.australia.com/events. Anyone wanting to extract any historical data such as past event registrations, appointment schedules, delegate directories or other event information, should login to tradeevents.australia.com and download the required reports or documents by the end of February. 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 available for tourism businesses.

NEWS IN BRIEF    Tickets are on sale for the 2017 Qantas Australian Tourism Awards to be held in Perth on Friday 23 February at the newly opened Optus Stadium. 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.     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. Registration is open for Destination Food, Australia's first culinary tourism conference to be held at the Museum of Sydney on Monday 21 May. The South Australian Tourism Commission has produced an infographic highlighting South Australia’s recent aviation growth, both domestic and international. Registration is open for a free workshop on Monday 19 March by Destination Melbourne for business interested in tapping into tourism. In partnership with Indigenous Business Australia, the Western Australian Indigenous Tourism Operators Council (WAITOC) is launching a Business Support Program that will foster the growth and expansion of a range of authentic Aboriginal cultural tourism experiences throughout Western Australia. Qantas’ new daily Dreamliner service between Brisbane and Los Angeles will commence on 1 September.

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