Keen to be somewhere other than at your desk this Monday? Well, believe us when we say that reading this Destination Wrap can take you there!

Travel Oregon wheels out ‘Only Slightly (More) Exaggerated’ campaign with Halloween costume party

On Thursday night, Travel Oregon invited key trade, media and airline partners in Sydney to don their Oregon-inspired ‘Slightly Exaggerated’ costume in the lead-up to Halloween to celebrate the launch of its ‘Only Slightly (More) Exaggerated’ campaign.

The campaign showcases different locations, experiences and adventures in Oregon, from venturing deep into the Oregon Caves National Monument to paragliding over the Steens Mountain. Viewers also get a taste of Oregon’s culinary bounty.

Best costume of the night went to Ellen Goodwin from Flight Centre Hunters Hill. Her prize included a trip to Oregon including flights with United Airlines and five nights on the ground. Honourable costume mention went to Tommy Lindblad from United Airlines.

Perth and Gold Coast reclassified as regional cities

The federal government will no longer regard Perth and the Gold Coast as ‘major cities’ in an attempt to attract skilled migrants and international students to both destinations.

The number of places in the government’s regional migration program has increased by 2,000 to 25,000, and those migrants who commit to living and working in regional Australia will now also have the choice of moving to Perth and the Gold Coast as part of the program.

Santa Monica Travel & Trade hosts trade lunch in Sydney

Santa Monica Travel & Tourism (SMTT) and key hotel partners returned to Australia for their annual trade, trade media and media sales mission from the 14 October to 18 October.

The team visited Brisbane and Sydney for a series of appointments and events, highlighting the latest developments of LA’s beach city.

One of the highlights of the trip was the Sydney sales mission trade and trade media lunch event, which took place at The Gantry, Pier One Sydney Harbour on Friday 18 October.

The lunch saw Santa Monica visiting guest chef Govind Armstrong partner with The Gantry’s head chef, Thom Gorringe, to prepare a selection of scallops and prawns from the BBQ in front of the guests along the recently transformed iconic ‘Santa Monica Pier’, highlighting the similarities between both beach cities.

Tourism Fiji welcomes back Today show team

Tourism Fiji will welcome back breakfast presenter Stevie Jacobs from Channel 9’s Today show to broadcast from some of Aussie favourite Fijian holiday locations.

Visiting Denarau, the Coral Coast and the Mamanuca Islands, Jacobs will be sharing the Bula spirit to Australian viewers, broadcasting live from Hilton Fiji Beach Resort & Spa, Shangri-La Fijian Resort & Spa and VOMO Island Resort from Tuesday 29 October until Thursday 31 October.

Fiji is also currently the location for season two of Channel 9’s Love Island Australia, featuring host Sophie Monk.

SF Travel, SFO and Brand USA kick off United’s new flight with San Francisco-inspired event

With the support from United Airlines, Visit California, Sonoma County Tourism, Visit Napa Valley and South Lake Tahoe, SF Travel, SFO and Brand USA hosted a San Francisco-themed event in Melbourne on 22 October to celebrate the launch of the new United Airlines direct flight between the two cities.

The first flight from Melbourne departs on 31 October 2019 and will operate three days a week every Monday, Thursday and Saturday until further notice.

The event took place at Beneath Driver Lane, a speakeasy in Melbourne’s CBD, and included San Francisco staples such as clam chowder served in bread bowls to mimic the world renowned Boudin Bakery at Pier 39.

Other San Francisco demonstrations through the event included three drag queens named Jessica James, Amanda Monroe and Jemima Handful, who welcomed the guests and entertained the crowd with a musical performance and a San Francisco-themed version of The Price is Right for the prizes.

Finally, Wes Leslie, musician and founder of Wild SF Tours, flew out from San Francisco to join the event as a roaming storyteller sharing the meaning behind the term ‘sugar daddy’ that originated in San Francisco.

The event ended in a special surprise giveaway for two winners. The first winner was Jennifer Mikkelsen of Travel Counsellors, who won a trip to San Francisco, Sonoma County and South Lake Tahoe, and the second winner was Karen Scharnbock of APT Touring, who won a trip to San Francisco, Napa Valley and South Lake Tahoe.

Australian media visit the Maldives to promote sustainable tourism

A team of Australian journalists spent a week in the Maldives last week as guests of Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), the nation’s tourism body.

The purpose of the trip was to create awareness of the Maldives as a travel destination amongst Australians, feature the main products of the Maldives and highlight the country’s sustainable tourism initiatives.

During the visit, the journalists experienced the different styles of products that are available in the Maldives, ranging from guesthouses in the local islands to five-star luxury resorts and life on the ocean on liveaboards.

They experienced a local guest house provided by Secret Paradise, two vessels provided by Yacht Maldives and overwater bungalows provided by Emerald Maldives Resort & Spa.

Singapore Tourism Accelerator launches with cohort of nine companies

The launch of the pioneer cohort from the Singapore Tourism Accelerator, which was announced at ITB Asia 2019, will see nine companies spend the next six months refining and test-bedding innovative solutions that could benefit Singapore’s tourism sector.

The accelerator is co-run by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and its appointed partner Found8, and is located on STB’s premises at Tourism Court.

The nine companies come from around the world – Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, India, Australia, UK, and the Netherlands – and were chosen from a pool of more than 160 applicants.

They have proposed a wide range of solutions that show potential to improve productivity, formulate stronger strategies to engage visitors and enhance the overall visitor experience.

Opening date revealed for Western Hempishere’s highest outdoor sky deck

Hudson Yards has announced that Edge, the Western Hemisphere’s highest outdoor observation deck, will open to the public on 11 March 2020, offering visitors the opportunity to see and experience New York City like never before.

Tickets for visits in March 2020 are now officially available on the Edge website.

Piercing the sky at a soaring 100 floors from its record-setting height of 1,131 feet, Edge will reveal never-before-seen views of NYC, Western New Jersey and New York State spanning up to 80 miles.

Visitors will enjoy varying levels of thrill, from sharing a champagne toast under the clouds to leaning over the city up against the angled glass walls, to stepping out onto the glass floor or taking in the view on the outdoor skyline steps from the 100th to 101st floor.

BridgeClimb says ‘konnichiwa’ to Japanese climbs

BridgeClimb Sydney will launch a new Japanese climb on 1 November 2019.

The Japanese Climb product will offer four climbs per week and allow Japanese visitors to see the best of Sydney from the top of the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge, guided by an expert climb leader and Japanese translator.

BridgeClimb has previously hosted a taiko drum performance and a traditional Japanese tea ceremony atop the Sydney Harbour Bridge, both world firsts to celebrate the coming together of Australian and Japanese cultures.

Tourism Western Australia to promote Fringe World Festival in Singapore

Perth’s Fringe World Festival will be promoted in Singapore for the first time, thanks to a one-year sponsorship agreement with Tourism Western Australia.

The funding will be used to expand the festival’s reach into Singapore, encouraging Singaporeans to travel to WA for the 2020 event and create awareness of the Fringe World Festival in the international market.

A Singaporean advertising agency will develop a campaign targeted at Singapore Millennials.

Fringe World is the third-largest fringe festival in the world and the largest annual arts event in WA, based on attendance.

Next year’s Fringe World Festival is expected to deliver thousands of out-of-state visitors, who will inject millions into the WA economy while visiting for the event.

Fringe World has been running annually in WA since 2011 and is now a popular annual event in WA’s summer calendar.

The 2019 Festival featured 674 shows taking place in 169 venues across 39 suburbs throughout WA, with about 415,000 tickets sold. The 2020 festival program will be revealed on 14 November.

Name change for Noosa Food & Wine Festival

Tourism Noosa has announced that the Noosa Food & Wine Festival will change its name to the Noosa Eat & Drink Festival from 2020.

Festival director Sheridah Puttick said: “We really felt it was time to represent what our festival is about: a true celebration of Australian eating and drinking. Drinking wine for sure, but also drinking a myriad of other delicious things, many of which are distinctively homegrown.

“The Noosa Eat & Drink Festival better reflects Noosa with our range of breweries, craft distilleries and coffee roasters. Our new name is also a nod to what our unique festival is about: lots of wonderful eating and drinking, all in one of Australia’s most beautiful locations.

“For the first time last year, the top 10 drink sales at the festival were made up of a bevy of beverages with sparkling wine, rose, ginger beer, gin, whisky, and craft beer leading in the mix.

“We’re excited to be making the change and leading the way in our industry by representing the full spectrum of the world of drinks at the festival, and the announcement of the name change has been welcomed by not only the beer, cider and spirits industries, but also our local industry.”