SHOW REPORT ATE – SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
Sydney emerges from ‘lost decade’ Over a decade on from hosting the
Great Sunshine Way is the way
Queensland was out in force at ATE
promoting a range of product that varied from cities to rainforest attractions to the tropical Barrier Reef Islands to brand-new touring routes. Tourism Queensland chief
executive officer, Anthony Hayes, said it was important that the state had a strong presence in Sydney to show the trade it was back and open for business after January’s devastating floods. “We have had some issues this year,
but the biggest has been the challenge of perception. The entire state is open for tourism, except Dunk Island, which is facing some challenges,” he said. There are around 115,000 business operations in the tourism sector in Queensland, with over 90 per cent of them employing three people or less, and "these are the people that need the trade to be selling the state,” said Hayes. Agents should notice an increase in
interest in the destination on the back of an additional A$10 million of marketing initiatives Tourism Queensland is running in May and June. Meanwhile, the largest-ever contingent
of Southern Queensland tourism operators was at ATE to promote a new initiative, The Great Sunshine Way. Developed for international visitors,
The Great Sunshine Way links together the Southern Queensland regions of Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Fraser Coast and the surrounding country areas, taking the traveller through a rich mix of cities, coast and hinterland. A new Great Sunshine Way brochure
lists must-do experiences, maps, suggested itineraries, transport options and a listing of international-ready operators by region. A separate Great Sunshine Way industry toolkit is aimed at international travel agents. UK visitors to Queensland were down
four per cent in 2010, although the number was still a healthy 238,000.
www.tq.com.au
2000 Olympic Games, Sydney is ready to ‘refresh the story of the city’ by adding several new visitor attractions over the next five years. “Sydney has a new story to tell, a post-Olympic Games story full of activity, entertainment, and renewal,” said Patricia Forsythe, chairman of the Greater Sydney Partnership. Millions of dollars are being invested
in several flagship projects. These include the Westfield retail complex, a multi-level mall in the central business district. The final phase later this year will include the first Australian location of Spanish retail giant, Zara. The redeveloped Star City complex is
a near $1 billion investment unfolding close to Darling Harbour. It will include a new five-star boutique hotel, casino, several restaurants and live entertainment venues. The Barangaroo waterfront
development is a A$6 billion project that will deliver the newest (and final) waterside suburb of Sydney’s CBD. It will add an uninterrupted boardwalk around Sydney’s western foreshore.
Indian Pacific
goes Platinum Great Southern Rail has
introduced Platinum Service aboard The Indian Pacific. The luxury service, available on The Ghan since 2008, features spacious deluxe cabins with Tasmanian Oak-panels that are almost twice the size of a Gold Service cabin. In the Queen Adelaide restaurant cuisine includes saltwater barramundi and grilled kangaroo loin. The Indian Pacific crosses both the Blue Mountains and the Nullarbor Desert. Email:
agentsupport@gsr.com.au
ATE NEWS IN BRIEF
Cairns Colonial Club joins Accor Accor has boosted its presence in
Tropical North Queensland by adding the Cairns Colonial Club Resort to its network. The hotel will be marketed under Accor’s All Seasons brand, and becomes the All Seasons Cairns Colonial Club. With 345 spacious rooms and suites the resort is set in tropical gardens.
www.all-seasons-hotels.com
Jewel Cave fills hole in WA Western Australia’s largest tourism
show cave, Jewel Cave, has reopened after a $3.1 million redevelopment to preserve the cave’s delicate ecosystem and provide better visitor access. Near Augusta in the southwest of WA, Jewel Cave is home to an array of gravity- defying stalactites, straws and flow stones.
www.margaretriver.com
ATE in a rush to get back to Sydney After returning to Sydney this year
for the first time in 12 years, ATE will make a speedy return to the city. After Perth, Western Australia, hosts the event in June 2012, ATE will return to Sydney in 2013. The show will then alternate between Australia's five largest cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth.
www.sellinglonghaul.com • May 2011 15
A new wing will be added to The Museum of Contemporary Art next year, a major ($152 million) upgrade of the Sydney Opera House is planned for 2013 and the city will welcome the first Frank Gehry building in the southern hemisphere, at the University of Technology Business School. Events will also be a key focus in
drawing visitors to Sydney. A key new event next year will be Opera on the
Harbour, a season of world-class opera productions performed on a floating platform moored off the Royal Botanic Gardens (March 24-April 15 2012). Sydney will also be at the forefront of
new theatre productions in Australia. This year it hosted the world premiere of new musical, Doctor Zhivago while Legally Blonde will have its world premier next year.
www.sydneyaustralia.com
UK visitors committed, says TA chief UK travellers eyeing a holiday in
Australia in 2011 are unlikely to be put off by the steep Advance Passenger Duty tax and an unfavourable exchange rate, Tourism Australia’s UK boss, Rodney Harrex said at ATE. “Does APD annoy people? I’m sure it
does, but does it make the difference to them not going? I don’t think so. When it really comes down to it I don’t think most people are going to say ‘APD is 85 quid each so we are not going to go’.” Australia’s unique range of experiences and products will be the carrot that offsets the most
unfavourable exchange rate for UK visitors for several years, said Harrex. “A lot of people at ATE have been talking about the exchange rate but I believe Australia is still seen as a very unique experience, a special holiday and a compelling destination that people will always put a premium on seeing.” UK visitors fell by three per cent in
2010 – outbound travel from the UK declined by six per cent, with long haul travel down much more – and dropped five per cent in February 2011, but TA forecasts are for year-on-year growth of 3.4 per cent in 2011, said Harrex.
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