This week’s Destination Wrap has a distinct local flavour, and is best enjoyed while devouring a meat pie or a pack of lamingtons.

‘Australia is Open’: The Australian Open’s simple but important tourism message

The last few weeks have been difficult for our beautiful country.

Chris Hemsworth and friends have a few words to share about it…#AustraliaIsOpen pic.twitter.com/13ScM9rg64

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 30, 2020

The Australian Open has received a new name and rebrand: Australia is Open – and it sends a simple but important message to the world.

Following the bushfires that devastated many parts of the nation, Australian is Open – open for business and open for tourism, Tourism Australia said.

“And with all eyes on Melbourne as the tournament reaches its thrilling crescendo, we want our global friends to plan a visit and share the many iconic experiences that make it such a special part of the world.”

Special edition of ATE to boost bushfire recovery

Tourism Australia has announced a series of initiatives that will be implemented as part of the 2020 Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE20), to provide direct support to Australian tourism operators in the wake of the devastating bushfire and coronavirus crises.

This year’s special edition of the annual trade show will have a strong recovery focus, with a raft of changes being implemented to the event’s format and delivery, including:

• Waiving the bulk of the attendance fees for all seller companies to acknowledge the recent downturn in tourism and put money directly back into their businesses
• Providing additional support for familiarisation visits for buyers to get out into affected regions to help spread the message overseas that Australia is open for business
• Providing the opportunity for operators from fire affected destinations to attend ATE to give them important exposure to both domestic and international travel buyers; and
• Activating spaces within the ATE event to educate and inform all attendees on how Australia is still open for business.

Destination NSW launches bushfire recovery campaign

The recovery of NSW’s tourism industry from the effects of drought and bushfires is in everyone’s hands with Destination NSW today launching its new marketing campaign, ‘Now’s The Time To Love NSW’.

A rally cry to stay ‘local’, buy ‘local’ and post photos and videos of our favourite places with the hashtag #LoveNSW, the social media-led marketing campaign will utilise user-generated content to encourage Australians to get away and give back.

More flights from Singapore shows confidence in WA tourism

Singapore Airlines is set to launch an additional fifth daily service to Perth, bringing tens of thousands of extra visitors a year to the State and boosting opportunities for the tourism industry and local economy.

Starting from 1 June, Singapore Airlines, which is also the largest carrier of international passengers to Western Australia, will operate the additional service into Perth.

The decision follows the McGowan Government’s proactive work last year to secure a $5 million three-year co-operative marketing deal with the airline, to promote Western Australia globally as a desirable holiday destination.

New 2020 Vanuatu land diving package launched

Image: (Christine Pobke)

Vanuatu Ecotours has launched a new three-day package for visitors wanting to better understand Vanuatu’s iconic land diving ceremony and the mysterious South Pentecost region.

“We’ve been listening to traveller feedback, and what we hear is that visitors want more than a superficial day trip experience. They want to better understand the land diving ceremony and the culture of the Pentecost land diving tribes,” managing director Rob Macalister said.

“Our new South Pentecost package has been carefully crafted with our community partners to give visitors time to explore and learn about this remote region.”

The tours are escorted by one of the Vanuatu Ecotours’ bilingual tour guiding team to ensure visitors’ time in South Pentecost is a safe and happy one.

“Our guides can help answer the many questions that all visitors have after witnessing the land diving ceremony,” Macalister said.

There are only five scheduled departures between April and June 2020. Early bookings are recommended as tours are limited to a maximum of eight people.

Noosa operators get inspired by Tassie tour operators

A group of Tourism Noosa members have enjoyed an inspirational three day roadshow in Tasmania this week learning insights from tourism operators as part of the ‘Tourism Noosa Leadership Program’.

The roadshow was designed to witness and experience ‘Best in Practice’ tourism offerings to analyse what learnings could apply to their own tourism businesses.

International marketing manager Vynka Hutton said Tasmania was chosen as the educational and leadership tour destination as it “resonated in terms of its offerings in sustainability, environment, nature based, food and wine, and cultural experiences”.

“Hobart and its surrounds offer a contrasting blend of nature based, scenery, culture, and local produce, offering similarities to the Noosa region,” she said.

The initiative was made possible by funding from the Australian Government through the ‘Building Better Regions Fund’ program, designed to explore tourism leadership issues specifically for the Noosa region.

The ultimate goal is to create sustainable, competitive tourism businesses armed with the tools and knowledge to make strategic decisions.

Revitalised Seattle Asian Art Museum reopens

An exciting day for the Seattle Asian Art Museum. It is one of just a few museums in North America dedicated to showing exclusively Asian art. It opened its doors after three years today. pic.twitter.com/98ybmom05C

— Kierra Elfalan (@KierraElfalanTV) February 8, 2020

The reimagined and reinstalled Seattle Asian Art Museum reopened to the public with a weekend celebration on 8 and 9 February 2020, inaugurating a new era for one of the few museums in North America dedicated exclusively to Asian art.

The museum will begin welcoming the public with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 8 am on Saturday, 8 February. In evidence of public excitement for the reopening, all 10,000 free tickets have been claimed for the weekend-long celebration.

The museum’s regular hours will begin on 12 February, including four new free days offered every month.

With an historic 1933 Art Deco building that has been enhanced by the Seattle-based firm LMN Architects, the museum now features a completely new thematic presentation of the Seattle Art Museum’s major collection of Asian art, in an unparalleled visitor-centred installation that makes connections across geography and embraces the complexity of its vast and profound subject.

Other features include a large new gallery for special exhibitions, a dedicated education space to serve thousands of students a year, and an important conservation centre for Asian paintings.