Big news in the small but growing world of indigenous Singapore travel tech – BeMyGuest Labs, flush with recently raised funds, has poached Graham Hills from Wego, making him an offer he couldn’t refuse to become its new Chief Commercial Officer (also his title at Wego).
BeMyGuest further strengthened its team by making respected Japanese entrepreneur Kei Shibata a board member. Hills, an Australian, joined Wego in 2011 and is best known for building the Indonesian business. He was also Chief Product Officer for a time.
Qantas yesterday accepted delivery of the first of eight Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, which can fly further for longer than any other commercial aircraft. Named Great Southern Land, features include larger windows, better air quality and ride dampening technology. It is quieter, more fuel efficient and less polluting than comparable aircraft. Qantas has confirmed two Dreamliner routes – Melbourne to Los Angles from December, and Perth to London next March, the first first non-stop service between Australia and Europe.
AccorHotels today announced it has agreed to buy Mantra Group for $1.3 billion. Mantra’s board unanimously accepted the Accor bid, priced at $3.96 a share, a 23% premium to the last closing price of $3.23. Mantra operates 127 hotels, resorts and apartments in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Hawaii across three key brands: Peppers (28 properties), Mantra (75 properties) and BreakFree (24 properties). It has more than 5,500 employees. AccorHotels says it operates 200+ properties pre-acquisition.
In an extraordinary move for someone who should be smoothing the way in the halls of power, Brent Thomas, the Head of Public Policy at Airbnb in Australia, has effectively told the Premier of NSW, Gladys Berejiklian, that she has no idea about innovation and that her predecessor, Mike Baird, would be doing a much better job. 
Overnight visitor nights to the Gold Coast exceeded five million in a year for the first time but the average visitor spend was down. The number of day trips also fell, largely due to the River Rapids accident at Dreamworld last October in which four people died. 
Tourism is not always a force for good, or indeed spreading the economic love, as is so often claimed by industry advocates. Orphanage tourism is a case in point. In Cambodia, for example, there are less orphans than in 2005 but since then the number of orphanages has increased by 75%. How can this be? The simple answer is demand and supply. 
Low cost carrier Tigerair Australia has expanded its services on the rapidly evolving and historically high-yielding Canberra route, where planes come stuffed with political fat cats and corporates, launching three return services between Brisbane and the national capital each week. It’s also boosted its Melbourne-Canberra service by an extra weekly flight. Tigerair’s Canberra expansion is good for competition but not for yields. Fares start at $49 ex-Melbourne and $69 ex-Brisbane.
Vietnam was the fastest-growing international destination for Australians during July. 
China has been confirmed as the world’s most dynamic cruise market with annual growth of 76% between 2013 and 2016, according to an Asia Cruise Trends report from industry association CLIA. The report reveals that 3.1 million Asians took cruises in 2016, 55% more than in 2015. “Of these, 68% (2.1 million) were from mainland China, a market which almost doubled as it grew by 99% last year.” 
Don’t expect much to change at Expedia following the departure of online travel savant Dara Khosrowshahi, who has taken the top job at Uber.
Thoughts of global warming have been cast aside as Australia’s snow resorts enjoy the best late season since at least 2012 as the third blizzard in a month pounds the mountains. 
A decision to make customers take a bus tour instead of the luxury European river cruise they were promised could cost Scenic Tours up to $16m. 
Lots of snow, blue sky and a gentle breeze. The view from 2000 metres at Thredbo, which has just posted an $18m profit 
Intrepid Group has bought 50% of Chimu Adventures and its subsidiaries from co-founders Chad Carey and Greg Carter, pictured, who will continue to run the business independently. 
