Well well agents, it’s Tuesday, which means we’re one day closer to the weekend.

It’s a jam-packed issue, and we don’t have any tissues, so don’t collapse, just read our wrap!

From famil snaps and specials, it’s all here.

Enjoy!

APT brings Kimberley to Victoria

APT’s Jane Ballantyne is half way through an epic journey that has seen her drive across four states to bring a taste of the Kimberley to the travel industry and prospective guests in South Australia and Victoria.

Driving one of APT’s custom built 13-tonne Mercedes 4WD coaches, Kimberley and Outback Wilderness Adventures (KOWA) Tour Operations Manager, Jane has driven from Darwin via the Red Centre and Great Ocean Road to Melbourne, covering thousands of kilometres in the process.

Jane’s journey has been punctuated with stops at APT’s consumer travel expos, the APT head office in Melbourne and also at travel agencies along the way to demonstrate the specially designed vehicle to prospective guests considering a trip with the award winner travel operator to the Outback.

Picture caption: Members from APT’s Retail Reservations Team joined KOWA colleagues for a tour of the 4WD coach. Pictured at APT’s head office in Melbourne is (from L to R) Erin Nicholas, Kayla Dehaan, Jane Ballantyne, Michelle Lester Smith, Nick Davies, Carley Browncombe, Ashley Cooper and Tuesday Carruthers; and kneeling Angela Lee and Rob Tandy.

Helloworld race around

Helloworld-TG recently hosted a top-producer fam trip to top up product knowledge of Bangkok, sponsored by Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

The agents enjoyed a A dinner at W Bangkok, including pictured: Elizabeth Katsidis – Goldman Travel; Cathy Riches – Travel Associates Australia; Preet Shah – Travel Traders; Sutthida (Sonia) Sintupanuts– Swan Travel; Linda McKenzie – Helloworld Hervey Bay; Lauren Pryde – Travelling Places; Jessica Newman – Motive Travel; Selina Lawrence-Shaw – BCD; Susie Morelli – TG; Natalie Hudson – Helloworld.

Topdeck’s top deals

Trek the African plains with zebras and wildebeest in Nairobi, relax on the palm-fringe beaches in Zanzibar and cruise the waters of Chobe National Park on Topdeck’s 43-day Kenya to Cape Town trip.

The trip is part of Topdeck’s Deals of the Week, where Topdeckers can score a 30% discount. The trip starts in Kenya and travels to Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.

Topdeckers will visit the Otjitotongwe cheetah park, climb Dune 45 and Sossusvlei sand dunes and soak under the Victoria Falls while spotting all the African wildlife including elephants, lions, birdlife, zebras and much more.

The trip is priced from $2,727 per person and includes 37 nights in campsites with two-person dome tents and sleeping mattress, two nights in hostels and three nights in hotels. The 30% discount applies to the trip departing 13 December 2015.

And over in Europe, enjoy sailing the waters of Greece to a French Riviera perfumery experience and a visit to Dachau, Topdeck’s Summer Fun & Sailing trip will have you visiting 14 countries in 27 days.

Topdeckers can score a 10% discount if they book and pay in full by December 15, 2015.

Topdeckers will visit London, Paris, Swiss Alps, French Riviera, Florence, Rome, Greece, Tirana, Budva, Dubrovnik, Zadar, Venice, Munich, Prague, Berlin and Amsterdam. To book your adventure or speak to an expert, phone Topdeck Travel or check out www.topdeck.travel.

Monograms brings better way to travel

The Globus family of brands has released its first brochure of Monograms holidays, offering Australians a better way to travel among some of the greatest cities in Europe.

All the essentials like hotels, transfers and rail tickets are pre-arranged, but guests are free to explore at their own pace. Each Monograms holiday offers the services of a local host who can provide assistance and advice throughout, and guided city tours are included in each location to showcase the must-see sights and provide an insight into the local history and culture.

To celebrate its new brochure, Monograms is offering savings of 10 per cent on all 2016 Europe holidays booked by December 1, 2015.  Plus, travellers who combine international flights with a Monograms package of seven days or more can save up to $600* per couple.

Virtuoso partners up

Virtuoso Asia Pacific today announced a new preferred supplier partnership with boutique luxury cruise line, Uniworld, to expand the network’s offering of luxury products across the globe.

“This is an outstanding product offering and exactly what the discerning, luxury traveller is seeking for from a river cruise today,” Virtuoso Asia Pacific Managing Director, Michael Londregan said.

“Uniworld offers unique, beautifully delivered experiences and exceptionally well fitted ships in destinations across the world so we are pleased to have this valuable partnership in place.

“While the partnership will broaden the Virtuoso brand offering, ultimately it is the client who will be the major beneficiary of this new relationship.”

A leading famil in France

The Leading Hotels of the World is currently hosting the third of their four Leading Famils, this time to France; taking in Paris, Nice, Cannes and Provence.

Extended to their top selling agency partners, Leading Famils is the ultimate famil experience designed to educate travel agents on their luxury collection of hotels, the cities they visit, meanwhile all infused in an itinerary of fine dining, private tours and local unique experiences.

Hosted by Renee Fowler from LHW, the group stayed at Hotel Lancaster, La Reserve and Le Bristol in Paris, Le Negresco in Nice, Hotel Barriere Le Majestic in Cannes and will finish off at Terre Blanche Resort and Spa in Provence.

The group enjoyed four nights in Paris where they were treated to Michelin Star dining around the clock, a local cooking class with Cook’n with Class, a Localers tour of Le Marais and a ride in vintage Citroen’s with Paris Authentic to the Eiffel Tour. They were even treated to a behind the scenes hard hat tour of the iconic Ritz Paris, due to re-open in March 2016 with Christian Boyens, Managing Director of Ritz Paris.

Solomons on the up

International visitor numbers to the Solomon Islands have increased for the third month in a row. Figures released by the Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau (SIVB) show a total of 2131 international travellers visited the destination across June 2015.

The figure represents a 9.3% increase over the 1949 total achieved for the same period in 2014. The June 2015 result follows a 15.5% visitor increase in April and a 14.9% visitor increase in May.

Australian arrivals continuing to dominate the statistics, contributing 49.7% of all visitation followed by Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Fiji and the US.

Queensland wowed by Treasures

Following on from earlier events in 2015, Treasures of the South Pacific (TOSP), has again hosted a record number of agents at functions in Brisbane and The Gold Coast last week. Over 150 attended the events hosted by 9 South Pacific destinations.

2 lucky agents won holidays to Samoa (Kerry Cleasby from Travel Managers) and Vanuatu (Rosie Bason from Travelbay).  This has been the first year TOSP events have been held in major east coast capitals and the response has been overwhelming, with almost 500 agents attending the 6 seminars through the year.

TOSP is a partnership of 9 South Pacific destinations, Pacific Islands Trade and Invest and South Pacific Tourism Organisation and runs 6 to 8 trade evenings annually around Australia.