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
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
Overall global airline load factor hit what the International Air Transport Association (IATA) believes may be a record high of 85.3% during the peak travel month of August. “The industry experienced continued strong traffic growth in August, putting the cap on a very good peak travel season. The all-time record load factor reflects that airlines are maximizing the efficiency of their assets at a time of rising fuel prices and other costs that are limiting the opportunities for low fare stimulation,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
AccorHotels has opened its 1000th in Asia Pacific, the Pullman Tokyo Tamachi, and is aiming to open one new property in the region every two days by 2020.
“We currently open, on average, a new hotel in Asia Pacific every three days, but our goal is to move this to a new hotel every second day by 2020 and one hotel per day globally,” said Michael Issenberg, CEO Asia-Pacific AccorHotels. More
Susan Bonner, VP & MD of Royal Caribbean Cruises, pictured, and Quirin Schwaighofer, co-founder of MadeComfy, are the latest speakers to confirm for the Travel IQ conference in Sydney on October 24.
They feature in The Next Big Thing, a provocative session moderated by Tammy Marshall of The B Hive and join a star-studded line-up including Bob East, Jamie Pherous, Anthony Hayes, Darrin Grafton, Rob Smith, Sue Badyari, Brett Mitchell, Robert Halfpenny, Les Szekely, Simon Lenoir, Anthea and David Hammon, Rod Cuthbert and many more. More
The NRMA, one of Australia’s largest travel and tourism investors, has further boosted its tourism investment portfolio , acquiring another six holiday parks in NSW and Victoria, bringing its stable of owned and managed parks to 44. More
Flight Centre has bought Unmapped, a technology company that builds travel documentation, communication and itinerary management software for the travel industry. Unmapped products include the Trip Publisher itinerary builder and TripLinQ API services, which consolidates bookings, content and real-time location data into a single interface. The company’s products are already being used by Flight Centre in the US and will roll out globally. No acquisition price was revealed.
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, 2018.
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!”
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Travel IQ 2018 Program – Celebrating The Business of Travel
THIS CONFERENCE HAS ALREADY BEEN HELD
9.00am – 9.45am Travel – A Growth Story. Travel remains a growth story despite global uncertainty and is forecast to grow at more than 5% a year for the next decade. Our opening speakers crunch the data on key industry sectors. We also look at where the smart money has been heading with analysis of key industry investments over the past two years, both in Australia and overseas.
9.45am – 10.05am Founder’s Story. Jamie Pherous founded Corporate Travel Management (CTD) 24 years ago with a couple of staff in Brisbane and big dreams. Now the business he created is a publicly-listed global enterprise with offices in 70 countries, thousands of staff and a market capitalisation of more than $3 billion. Learn about Jamie’s journey in this presentation.
10.05am – 10.40am Trends, Issues, Challenges & Opportunities. Travel may be growing however progression is anything but linear. That’s because travel is a complex, occasionally volatile industry that’s ultimately all about people, who are anything but predictable. Strategies change, opportunities emerge, and growth is an ever-present challenge. Meanwhile globalisation looms large. Tightly moderated panel discussion involving travel business leaders.
10.40am 11.10am – Morning Tea
11.10am – 11.35am Investor Insight. Les Szekely has picked a few winners in his time: HotelClub, SiteMinder and Rezdy to name a few, so what he says is worth listening to. What is his philosophy on investing, what does he look for in a company and what does he think the future holds? Find out here.
11.35am – 11.55am Going Public: Serko is a story of dogged perseverance and bloody mindedness. After a rocky start on the NZSX, Serko staged a huge turnaround and became its top performing share last year while achieving a long-time goal of co-listing on the ASX in June.
11.55am – 12.40pm Attractive Proposition: Attractions are the invisible infrastructure underpinning Australian tourism. Session opens with focus on the rapid evolution of third-generation company Hammons Holdings, owner since 1945 of Scenic World Blue Mountains and now operator of commercial climbing on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Followed by industry leader discussion covering everything from ski resorts and aquariums to water parks. Moderator Nigel Benton, Publisher, Australian Leisure Media.
12.40pm – 2.00pm Lunch. Sensational lunch in Bistro Remy, a great space and brilliant food. Delegates will get the chance to relax and catch up with fellow delegates in a beautiful environment.
2.00pm – 2.30pm Engineering an Exit. Building a travel business is one thing, selling it or stepping back something else altogether. Here’s how two quite different travel entrepreneurs managed their transition. One sold, the other stepped aside from day to day management. Presentation followed by discussion.
2.30pm – 2.40pm Owning the Moment: Why lease when you can build and own? Australian travel companies APT and Scenic have been at the forefront of investing in and building their own ships. Now Aurora Expeditions has joined the party, commissioning the ‘Greg Mortimer’ expedition ship. Case study on rewards and risks of building your own ship.
2.40pm – 2.50pm Focus On – Intrepid Group: It’s been a remarkable journey for the Intrepid Group, which is pushing ahead with an ambitious strategy to be the biggest player in the global adventure travel industry through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth
2.50pm – 3.10pm Adventure is Where You Find It: Discussion… Adventure, expedition and experiential travel is hot right now with consumers increasingly looking for culture, meaning and interaction when they take a break. Find out what’s driving this sector, where the opportunities lie and what the future holds
3.10pm – 3.30pm Working Locally, Growing Globally. The common wisdom is that you can’t build a global business from Australia. However, it can be done. Rod Cuthbert has used Australia as a launching pad for two global businesses, Viator, now owned by TripAdvisor, and Rome2rio, headquartered in Melbourne. What did he learn along the way? Interview format.
3.30pm – 4.00pm Afternoon Tea
4.00pm – 4.30pm The Next Big Thing… If only if it were that simple. Here is your chance to get ahead of the curve in our closing session featuring a panel of well-connected industry insiders with their take on how travel will evolve in the coming years and who will be best placed to take advantage of the ever-shifting tourism landscape.
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Australia’s most significant private hotel investor, Dr Jerry Schwartz, will soon assume control of his 13th property, the Four Points Sheraton at Central Park in Sydney, and has pledged to donate first night profits to Australian farmers battling drought. More
Leading serviced apartment owner and operator, The Ascott Limited, has bought 70% of Tauzia Hotel Management, one of Indonesia’s top five hotel operators.
Tauzia has a portfolio of 122 hotels across Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, half of which are under development. Most of Tauzia’s hotels target business travellers with about 30% leisure focused.
Its brands include Harris Hotels, Yello and Pop!
The number of US visitors to Australia has slumped for the third straight month according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics travel overview for July. The number of Americans visiting Australia during July was -6.8 down on 2017. This follows year on year falls of -6.1% in June and -4.5% during May.
- IDEAS, ACTIONS, CONTENT -
My name is Martin Kelly and I run Travel Trends, a content, marketing, research and strategy consultancy for travel businesses.
I help travel companies improve their positioning, communications, stakeholder engagement and public relations through content-led strategic initiatives.
Typically I develop a multi-tier approach including stories/blog posts, newsletters, media releases, white papers, reports and events - all designed to better connect business with their customers.
Often, my clients have neglected their marketing communications so I work with them to create credible positioning and messaging to ensure a solid, relevant platform before embarking on outreach.
I am also a respected travel industry analyst, contributing to Phocuswright's regional research reports while representing them as a speaker at events in Australia and overseas.
In terms of background, I started the Travel Trends website to support the No Vacancy and TRAVELtech conferences, which I founded and ran for many years before selling in 2016.
I've kept the site going as an example of my work and still file the occasional story.
I'm always open to new opportunities and would love to hear from you. For further information please email martin@traveltrends.biz
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