Ovolo Hotels is spending $5 million on its (relatively) new Canberra property, Ovolo Nishi, building 17 new rooms and revitalising the Monster Bar + Kitchen.
The new wing, designed by by Luchetti Krelle, will be finished by mid-2019. The fast-growing company is based in Hong Kong and has six Ovolo properties in Australia with more to come. More
Demographer Bernard Salt says the future is looking good for Australia’s holiday parks as the two most populous age groups – the Millennials and Baby Boomers – move into the sector’s sweet spot, albeit with very different intentions.
For the Millennials, it’s a family and mortgage thing.
“Millennials will be the fastest-rising demographic over the next 10 years,” says Salt. Nothing new in that but this time around they will be people in their 30s and 40s with kids. More
Tourism Australia (TA) predicts almost 8000 new hotel rooms will open in Australia next year following a bullish 2018 during which 56 new properties offering 6000 rooms opened around the country. More
It’s a huge day in the ever-evolving Hunter Valley with wine industry legend James Halliday opening the brand new tasting rooms and restaurant at Brokenwood, a winery he founded in the early 1970s with fellow Sydney solicitors Tony Albert and John Beeston.
Almost 50 years on, Halliday is the sole survivor of the original trio and, at 80, remains incredibly productive, unchallenged as Australia’s leading wine writer. More
Trivago’s credibility has taken a huge hit after the travel search giant admitted running misleading television advertisements and breaking two sections of Australian consumer law – actions that could be punished with fines of up to $10 million. More
Things have changed – dramatically – at Jayride since the online travel marketplace for airport transfers raised $9.5 million and listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in late January.
But you wouldn’t know it talking with co-founder and Managing Director Rod Bishop, who remains as steady, calm and phlegmatic as ever.
“I’m just one of the team,” he says. More
One in three Australians is using voice search tools such as Siri (Apple), Alexa (Amazon) and Google Assistant when researching travel, according to the Travelport 2018 Global Digital Traveller Survey. Of the respondents, 17% said voice had the greatest influence when travelling. More
It’s been a long , wet winter but the sun may finally be shining on the grass roots of WA tourism.
Sarah Corbitt, GM at Summerstar Tourist Parks, Western Australia’s largest holiday park operator with 10 properties around the state, is looking forward to a bumper peak season. More
It’s no wonder that customer loyalty is a primary goal of smart hospitality industry operators. Consider the evidence. Acquiring a new customer is five to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one, according to the Harvard Business Review, while a study by Frederick Reichheld shows that a 5% increase in customer retention can increase business profits by 25%. More
eNett was the star performer in the recent Travelport third quarter results, increasing third quarter revenue 58% to $US86 million. The Melbourne-based payments company, founded by Anthony Hynes and now majority owned by Travelport, was singled out for praise by Gordon Wilson, the company’s CEO and President. More
The Melbourne Cup is done, and won, and summer’s almost here. As temperatures rise, holiday park operators around Australia are working frantically to prepare for the holiday hordes who will descend over the Christmas break, six weeks when normal life ends and it’s time to work, work and work some more. RMS Cloud has spoken with some of Australia’s leading holiday park operators to find out how the peak summer season is shaping up. Here’s what they had to say. More
Most of Australia’s hotel markets are in good shape due to consistent underlying demand across the nation – except for Western Australia – resulting in an average occupancy rate of 76% and an increase in Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) of 2.9% for the year to June 30, according to the latest Accommodation Industry Monitor from STR. More
SiteMinder has appointed Sankar Narayan as its first CEO. Narayan is currently Chief Operating Officer of cloud accounting company Xero and will join SiteMinder in January. More
NRMA has continued its aggressive acquisition spree, buying Fantasea Cruising as part of the motoring membership group’s strategy “to become Australia’s largest provider of transport and tourism services”.
Fantasea follows the NRMA’s purchase of Manly Fast Ferries last year and triples its Sydney Harbour fleet, adding 10 ferries and 10 water taxis. More
Qantas revenue for the first quarter for the FY18 has hit a record high of $4.41 billion, an increase of 6.3% over the same period last year, despite rising fuel costs. The airline’s CEO Alan Joyce attributed the result to increased passenger revenue (higher fares) and capacity discipline. This also reflected in the value of forward bookings, which is up 8%. Domestic was the revenue growth engine at +6.8% while international was up 4%. See Qantas results release.
Flight Centre shares have come back to earth, falling 10% yesterday due to revelations that its Australian leisure division has under-performed following a devastating ABC report on its staff culture and payment system. FLT shares are now trading around $46, 33% down on their August 20 high of $69.36. See SMH report.
Just six weeks after Sydney pub baron Justin Hemmes was quoted as a potential buyer of Sydney Seaplanes, hotel mogul Dr Jerry Schwartz has swooped and invested in the business. More
Dax Eddy – bio pending.
Cruise tourism contributed almost $5 billion to the Australian economy in the 17/18 financial year, according to a new combined report from industry groups CLIA Australasia and the Australian Cruise Association. The report claimed 1236 “ship visits” led to 3.5 million passenger and crew visit days, raising $2.3 billion in direct economic output and $2.5 billion in indirect and induced output. More
Queenstown’s landmark The Rees Hotel has been sold to Pioneer Capital and will be the cornerstone of a boutique accommodation group targeting high-end leisure visitors to the South Island of New Zealand. More
The world’s longest scheduled non-stop air service – between Singapore and New York – is due to start operations this Thursday. The 15,2000 kilometre journey will take the brand new Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900 ULR almost 19 hours to cover the distance. Take a good book and plenty of deodorant. See the full story at CNN Travel.
Merlin Entertainments – the biggest owner of visitor attractions in Australia and New Zealand – is on track for a record year and actively scouting for expansion opportunities.
Divisional Director Rob Smith, who is speaking at Travel IQ in Sydney on October 24, predicts that visitor numbers to Merlin’s local attractions for 2018 will be up by 3% to 4% over last year.
Highlights include: More
Jeff’s current role is Vice President of Technology Strategy of TripAdvisor. This involves searching the globe for the best technology, ideas and businesses to complement or extend TripAdvisor Experiences’ mission of helping people around the world plan and have the perfect trip.
Jeff was previously Vice President, Engineering for Viator and where he spent a decade managing the software development and IT infrastructure teams through that hyper growth period.
Since the acquisition of Viator by TripAdvisor in 2014, Jeff has been involved in many challenging and exciting initiatives to scale and integrate Experiences into the world’s largest travel site.
Nigel Benton is the co-owner and publisher of Australasian Leisure Management, Australia and New Zealand’s only magazine for professionals in all areas of the leisure industry.
Nigel established the magazine in 1997, shortly after his relocation to Australia, and has managed its readership rising to over 11,000 and its acceptance as the industry journal for professionals in aquatics, attractions, events, fitness, recreation, sport and venues.
Over recent years the magazine has expanded online with its www.ausleisure.com website attracting 80,000 unique visits each month.
The magazine also has an active presence on twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Vasso Zographou is a Director for Savills Hotels, Australia & New Zealand. His responsibilities encompass Capital Market activities and overseeing the broad range of advisory services which the team provides to its clients.
As a Chartered Accountant, Vasso has spent the last 28 years across virtually all aspects of the hotel industry acting for owners and banks and hotel operators including, sales & acquisitions of hotel assets & portfolios and/or at the entity level, corporate finance, development, asset management, operator selection and management agreement negotiation, vendor & purchaser financial due diligence and capital transaction closure services.
Prior to joining Savills Vasso was Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer, Asia Pacific, for the Radisson Hotel Group, Joint Managing Director of Horwath HTL Australia and a Partner of Horwath Sydney.
Michael is responsible for the management and development of the Savills Hotels business in Australia and New Zealand, and its integration with the Asian and global Savills Hotels platforms.
He has a particular focus on investment sales, capital raising, joint ventures and advising on and structuring hotel and mixed use developments.
Before joining Savills, Michael spent more than 10 years as a lawyer responsible for advising on, structuring, negotiating and executing asset level and entity level single asset and portfolio hotel and resort sales, corporate M&A real estate transactions, bilateral, syndicated and private placement financing, and capital market bond issuance.
Michael also spent four years leading a hotel, resort and leisure development team in the Middle East, and jointly established the company’s hotel and leisure asset management team.
In 2007 Josh and his wife started a day tour company in Melbourne, Australia.
They had no experience in tourism, no business experience, no networks or support and no funds.
After two years of 60 hour weeks, they were taking home $20,000 a year and had nearly thrown in the towel more times than they could count.
Fast forward seven years and they had grown that business to $2 million plus in revenue annually, before selling the company in 2017 for seven figures.
They achieved this without working themselves into an early grave – creating a great lifestyle where they stepped out, worked remotely, travelled 4-6 months of the year, enjoyed all the things that they love about life and empowered others to run their business as it grew.
Josh recently launched www.thesunshinetribe.com – helping tour and activity operators, and small tourism businesses across the globe build amazing businesses AND create awesome lives for themselves.
Shoulda Been There - Back in 2019
You should have been there. The first sold-out edition of Travel IQ was a fantastic day.
Make sure you don't miss out in 2019 - register your interest here to get the latest updates.
Travel IQ is a one-day conference that celebrates the business of travel.
It's designed for entrepreneurs, key executives, business owners, directors, analysts, investors and managers across all verticals.
The aim is to get people thinking – and also inspired - with case studies from some of Australia’s most renowned travel entrepreneurs and innovators.
This unique format resonated with the attendees at the first event, which was staged at the Langham, Sydney, on October 24.
As one high-profile speaker commented: "I met with many great people and the overwhelming comment was how much they got out of Travel IQ.
"Personally, I also enjoyed the event very much.
"It is always great getting the heads of companies in the same room, inspiring. So well done!"
Another said: "Excellent first up business event - great base to build on."
Travel IQ 2018 featured an outstanding program packed with industry leaders including:
- Anthea Hammon, Managing Director, Scenic World; Director, Hammons Holdings
- Anthony Hayes, Chief Operating Officer, Sealink Travel Group (SLK)
- Anthony Moulder, Head of Transport & Infrastructure Research, CLSA Australia
- Bob East, Chairman Tourism Australia/ Chair Experience Co (EXP)
- Brett Mitchell, Regional Director APAC, Intrepid Group
- Darrin Grafton, Co-Founder, Serko (SKO)
- David Hammon, CEO & Director Hammons Holdings, (Scenic World/Sydney Harbour Bridge Tourism Experience)
- Dax Eddy, Executive Director, Jamberoo Action Park
- Jamie Pherous, Managing Director, Corporate Travel Management (CTD)
- Jeff Lewis, Vice President Technology & Strategic Initiatives, TripAdvisor
- Josh Oakes, Director, The Sunshine Tribe
- Kathryn Valk, Director of Marketing, Royal Carribean Cruises Ltd
- Les Szekely, Managing Director, Grand Prix Capital, early investor in SiteMinder and Rezdy
- Nigel Benton, Publisher, Australian Leisure Media
- Quirin Schwaighofer, co-Founder and COO, MadeComfy
- Rachel Wiseman, Chief Investment Officer, The NRMA
- Robert Halfpenny, Managing Director, Aurora Expeditions
- Rod Cuthbert, Founder Viator, Former Chairman Rome2rio
- Rob Smith, Divisional Director, Australia/New Zealand, Merlin Entertainments (LON: MERL)
- Sue Badyari, Chief Executive Officer, World Expeditions
- Simon Lenoir, Co-Founder, Rezdy
- Tammy Marshall, CEO, The B Hive
- Vasso Zographou/Michael Simpson, Savills Hotels
Travel IQ will be back in 2019, date and venue to be advised.
Travel IQ is produced by Martin Kelly, publisher of TravelTrends.biz and creator of several respected industry events.
More information on Travel IQ
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- It's All About The Information -
TravelTrends founder Martin Kelly has diversified and now also runs Bluewater Press, a communications and thought leadership consultancy with a particular expertise in travel. Services include:
- Strategic Communications
- Media Releases & Distribution
- Crisis Management
- Thought Leadership
- Industry Advocacy
- Positioning, Messaging
- Marketing Plans & Execution
- Engaging Content
Martin is a communications, public relations and media professional with extensive high-level experience across the travel, internet, property and banking industries, both in-house and as a consultant.
For further information please email martin@traveltrends.biz
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