Amadeus is moving its Pacific headquarters to 180 Thomas Street, Haymarket, Sydney, a move that will accommodate the growing team of over 350 people, and which hopes to reflect Amadeus’ approach to innovation in travel with an open-plan, activity-based working environment.

Federal Group’s luxury resort on Tasmania’s East Coast Saffire Freycinet was named the world’s best boutique hotel at the World Boutique Hotel Awards in a ceremony in London overnight.

Accepting the award at London’s Montcalm Hotel, Federal Group executive director John Farrell said that this was the fulfilment of a dream for the family owned company and something that could lift Tasmanian tourism to a new level.

Before departing for the Miss World Final in London on Saturday, Miss World Australia Courtney Thorpe paid a visit to another little Aussie whose hopes are riding just as high on her shoulders – eight month old Koala joey Oasis.

Oasis will be just one of the many who will reap the benefits of a recently forged partnership between Australia Zoo’s Wildlife Warriors Program, and Oaks Hotels & Resorts, of which Thorpe is an ambassador for.

Through the partnership, the Wildlife Warriors Program will receive generous donations and awareness campaigns supporting critical conservation work over the next five years.

TripAdvisor has released a list of the top 20 most popular destinations for outbound mainland Chinese travellers, with Australia’s tourism offerings continuing to be a huge draw for Chinese travellers looking for a combination of cultural, natural and laidback experiences.

Australia came in 17th among the most popular travel spots, based on total page views recorded between September 2013 and September 2014 on daodao.com, TripAdvisor’s official website in China, with Hong Kong, the US, Thailand, Taiwan and Japan the top five choices.

While Sydney and Melbourne take first and second place as the most popular Australian destinations for outbound Chinese travellers, destinations in Queensland are fast becoming popular spots for Chinese tourists with Airlie Beach, Gold Coast and Cairns ranking amongst the top five.

Contiki has announced the appointment of Casper Urhammer to the role of global CEO, effective November 17 2014.

Urhammer brings strong e-commerce and digital marketing experience to the team, ranging from positions in Australia, New Zealand, the US, UK and Europe, as well as being responsible for establishing Groupon in his native Denmark, before moving to Sydney as its managing director of sales and marketing Australia and New Zealand.

Four Seasons has celebrated the launch of its own private jet with a time-lapse video that shows the jet being constructed, while the Private Jet Itineraries for 2016 have been announced off the back of the success of the 2015 itineraries.

Four new itineraries have been included in the line-up, including round the world trips from LA to London, Seattle to St. Petersburg, Austin to Lisbon and London return via Dubai and Florence.

Sydney made its mark on the ‘Extraordinary Adventures: An Around the World Journey’ itinerary, which will run from September 17 to October 11, bringing added luxury experiences to Four Seasons travellers.

Creative Holidays is set to send out shopping vouchers and luxury holidays to help agents have a merry Christmas, with five weeks of prizes up for grabs, including Coles/Myer vouchers, return airfares and accommodation for two in Fiji or Hawaii, and $1000 Creative Holiday travel vouchers.

To be eligible for the draw, which will be announced every Monday, agents must book a minimum of four nights with Creative Holidays, booked and deposited by November 21 for the Coles/Myer vouchers, November 28 for the Fiji trip, December 5 for Hawaii, December 12 for the $1000 voucher and December 19 for a holiday to Mauritius.

Travel Counsellors’ agents recently saw the very best of tropical Sabah on an exclusive famil, hosted by Royal Brunei Airlines and Visit Sabah, and taking the agents to see local orang-utans, Gaya Island, and enjoy luxury accommodation.

The group included Suzzelle Matillano, Trish Downs, Julianne Wallace, Sandra Botella, Andrew Denishensky, Christine Jenkins, Lynda Reid, Vivienne Smith and Kerry Lake, with general manager Tracy Parkinson saying these trips help Travel Counsellors “build their businesses by providing their customers with a very unique and personal travel service.”

Royal Caribbean International will launch its first Australian TV campaign during prime time this Sunday November 16, with the new locally produced 60 second, 30 second and 15 second commercials aimed at showing the Australian public the “Royal Caribbean difference”.

Royal Caribbean International will have three ships sailing in Australia for the 2014/15 season, including Rhapsody of the Seas, Radiance of the Seas and Australia’s largest and freshly revamped Voyager of the Seas, with the 60 second commercial available for viewing below.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority recently joined forces with Viva! Holidays/Qantas Holidays and Hawaiian Airlines to host 11 Australian travel agents on the ultimate twin centre famil.

The red carpet was rolled out for a whirlwind four nights in Las Vegas, where agents experienced the famously celebrated and more unknown attractions of the destination, before going on to spend two nights relaxing in the cool Hawaiian sea breeze.