News in Brief: Wednesday December 10
Creative Holidays and Dubai Tourism has kicked off the second instalment of its exclusive comp with Travel Today, giving away a $150 spa voucher for this week’s ‘spa & relaxation’ theme.
To enter, answer these five questions and send your answers to competition@themisfits.media by the end of the week. Winners will be notified by Travel Today.
Scoot has added Tullamarine to its list of routes, with the airline’s 787 Dreamliner making the trip between Singapore to Melbourne five times each week.
As of November 1 2015, Scoot is bringing in the non-stop flights, and to celebrate, the airline is offering return economy fares between the two cities from $300 until 3pm today.
Ladies only tour company Travelling Divas has added two new luxurious adventure options to the 2015 calendar, visiting Africa and Peru.
The Diamonds in the Wild: Zimbabwe, Botswana & South Africa tour builds on the success of last year’s venture into Africa, while the 11-day Peru and the Incas, Diva Style journey visits international fashion houses, Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley for yoga classes.
Trafalgar has taken its top performing agents to sample Switzerland from the inside on its annual Acclaim trip, in partnership with Etihad Airways.
The company is now launching another incentive, with agents encouraged to snap photos and share them on Instagram with a range of hashtags, including #Acclaim2014, #TrafalgarInsider and #switzerland to be in the running to win prizes like $150 wine or cheese packages, and more.
The ultimate #TrafalgarInsider, which will be announced in Januaury, will win a GoPro valued at RRP of $169, with Trafalgar agents now armed with their own ‘selfie-sticks’ to encourage participation.
Crowne Plaza Coogee Beach has opened its doors to a brand new gym, with the $200,000 refurbishment providing guests with a fitness centre four times the size of the previous gym.
The new equipment includes new Life Fitness Flex Deck Shock Absorption running machines and Life Fitness Fit Stride Total Body Toner cross trainers, along with a range of other new facilities.
Tourism Fiji has confirmed the appointment of its regional director for New Zealand Wayne Deed as achting chief executive, effective December 26.
Tourism Fiji’s marketing manager Michelle Sinnott has also been confirmed as acting director of global marketing from the same date, with both to be based in Nadi for the duration of their appointments.
The Extreme Sailing Series has arrived, with teams checking in at Mercure Sydney Potts Point, who will host many of the international teams competing in the series.
The annual global racing series attracts many respected skippers from around the world, with the culmination of the 2014 series on December 11 seeing Sydney Harbour and the foreshore come alive.
Africa Albida Tourism’s chief executive, and well known African tourism identity Ross Kennedy has won the Zimbabwe Hospitality Association’s major award for achievement.
Kennedy is also the operator of the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, among other key tourism infrastructure, and was honoured due to his longstanding and ongoing international efforts to promote, not only his own business operation, but also travel and tourism to Zimbabwe in general.
A group of 22 intrepid Australian travel agents ventured to Port Vila and the outer islands of Vanuatu this week led by the Vanuatu Tourism Office, after winning their spot on the famil by completing the online agent training via the new www.vanuatuspecialists.com.au site.
The group spent the week exploring the diverse offerings of Port Vila, got up close to Mount Yasur volcano on Tanna, and enjoyed the infamous blue holes at Champagne Beach, Port Orly.
A new training incentive will run in 2015, in the meantime, agents keen to learn more about the destination can still complete the training.
AAT Kings has announced the results of its ‘Name our Tassie Devil’ Facebook competition, with the true blue animal given the Aussie name of Gumnut.
The name was suggested by Mrs L.E. Dunford from Tasmania and won out over Billie – after AAT Kings’ founder Bill King, and a clever combination of bush ballad Waltzing Matilda and the company name – MAATilda.
Royal Brunei Airlines is offering competitive fares for travellers keen to experience the city of Dubai during the cooler months between December and March.
Departing Melbourne daily, the airline’s fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners will fly to Dubai via Brunei, with fares available from $1,105 between January 15 and March 21, 2015.
Seven senior travel specialists recently travelled to Cambodia as guests of Song Saa Private Island, Raffles Cambodia and Exo Travel, enjoying their host’s five star luxury accommodation and service over the seven-night famil.
Contiki staff recently took to Manly beach for the first instalment in a beach clean-up tour of Sydney’s Northern Beaches, an initiative kicked off by the new partnership of Contiki and the Surfrider Foundation Australia.
The pair are hoping to raise awareness of the dangers of single use plastics on marine environments as part of Surfrider’s national Rise Above Plastics campaign, with the next clean-up taking place on Palm Beach on January 18.
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
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