The global economic recovery has played a significant role in a strong first-half result for Regional Express, which operates a fleet of more than 50 Saab 340 aircraft to 60 destinations across Australia.
Known as Rex, the carrier announced a pre-tax profit of $13.8m for the six months to December 31, 2017, up 60% over the previous year. Passenger numbers grew 3.8% and Executive Chairman Lim Kim Hai said “charter activity also increased, indicating the worldwide economic recovery is having its effect in Australia.”
Virgin Australia has decided not to privatise after suggesting it was a possibility last November and will instead offer thousands of small investors a way out by buying their shares. More
AccorHotels has sold 55% of AccorInvest, a subsidiary company which owns 891 AccorHotels, mostly in Europe, to a consortium of investors for US$5.4 billion, including the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia and Singapore. More
Investors were disappointed by the half-year results of Apollo Travel and Leisure despite strong revenue and profit growth over the previous year due to a spate of acquisitions, including North American van rental company CanaDream and several retail outlets.
Apollo’s revenue was $172m for the six months to Dec 31, 2017, while net profit came in at $16m. More
Cruise and marine transport operator SeaLink Travel Group has turned to accommodation to stimulate much-needed growth, buying the Kingfisher Bay Resort and associated assets on Fraser Island for $43 million.
Kingfisher Bay Resort is a virtual monopoly business, controlling 90% of accommodation on Fraser Island, a world-heritage listed destination in southeast Queensland. More
Listed Australian travel companies are soaring with strong half-year results announcements from Qantas, Flight Centre and Webjet today driving exceptionally strong share price rises.
Qantas shares were up 9%, Webjet’s grew 15% while Flight Centre stock rose 11%. More
Flight Centre once again showed who’s boss in the Australian travel market recording strong TTV growth of almost 9% and upgrading its full-year profit forecast – clearly demonstrating the importance of geographic diversity and staff productivity, which grew 7% from $481,000 to $513,000 per head over the past year. More
Australia’s #2 retailer Helloworld Travel has posted a good pre-tax half-year profit of $26 million, up 39% over the previous year, but the main driver appears have been cost cutting rather than turnover or sales growth – which could be a concern.
Total transaction value was up 2.7% (major rival Flight Centre’s turnover grew 8.7% over the same period) while revenue declined 3.7%, “reflecting the continued lower airfare prices and mix changes across the business units and products,” the company said. More
Australia’s mountain resorts are enjoying their place in the sun thanks to a brilliant six months in the Australian Alps where a sensational summer of tourism has followed the incredible #blizzardofoz 2017 winter.
Freak season. Three mega-storms. Epic snow conditions. And record profits for the likes of Thredbo, which has just announced it made $24m pre-tax in the six months to December 31. More
Opportunistic and casually ambitious – that’s one way to describe the team driving Veriu, a hotel brand that’s seemingly come from nowhere in the Australian marketplace, most recently winning the race to acquire the Punt Hill brand and leases on its 13 properties.
But Veriu is anything but an upstart with roots stretching back to 2002 when co-founders Alex Thorpe and Rhys Williams identified a niche in furnished accommodation leasing and started with two rooms in Bondi. More
Discovery Parks has created Australia’s biggest holiday park network by buying the Top Parks brand and entering into a licencing agreement with its members.
Under the deal Top Parks members will remain independently owned but form part of the Discovery Parks network, which will now comprise 220 properties. More
Qantas, flush with cash after posting its largest-ever profits in the past two financial years, has not paid one cent of corporate tax for a decade. And while Australia’s national flag carrier, once owned by the Governmment, leads the way in tax minimisation, an investigation by the ABC into tax paid by major corporates, reveals that none of Australia’s leading airlines – including Virgin, Tigerair, Etihad and Qatar – has paid corporate tax since 2013. See story.
Delicate question this. Should the tourism industry be supporting Myanmar while its regime kills and persecutes the Rohingya people because of their religion?
I ask after reading a trade story yesterday headlined Myanmar Jubilant as Asia Arrivals Swell based on government claims that in 2017 Southeast Asian tourist visits to the country increased 109% year on year. More
Punthill Apartment Hotels has been bought by Veriu Hotels and Suites, a new fast-growing brand with four Sydney properties prior to the acquisition.
Veriu has, for an undisclosed sum, bought the Punthill brand and leaseholds on 12 Melbourne and one Brisbane property comprising 777 apartments from the Caras family, who started the business 30 years ago. More
Paid search is the pathway to online success – provided you do it really well and don’t go broke in the process – while online content (the current craze) may not be all it’s cracked up to be. Sure, it attracts traffic but engagement levels can be spectacularly low.
These are two key takeaways from Australia’s Top 50 Websites 2017 supplied exclusively to TravelTrends.biz. by SimilarWeb, the global leader in digital market intelligence. More
Online Travel Agents and their rigid, take it or leave contracts are the biggest business concern for Australian hoteliers, a survey of 450 members by the Accommodation Association of Australia has revealed.
“The chief concern is around how the contracts are done,” says the Association’s CEO Richard Munro (pictured). More
US online travel agents Booking.com and Expedia were the biggest revenue producers for Australian hotels in 2017, according to SiteMinder.
Its data also reveals hotel websites were the third most important distribution channel, while large domestic wholesalers such as AOT, the Qantas Group and Lido produced significant revenue for local hoteliers using the SiteMinder channel manager platform. More
Australian travel company Scenic, which built its reputation on luxury river cruises, will double its exposure to “six-star” expedition cruising, commissioning a second Scenic Eclipse following what company founder Glen Moroney described as “extraordinary global interest” in Scenic Eclipse I, which is due to debut on August 31. More
Asia-Pacific airlines outperformed rivals in a strong year for aviation, posting annual international traffic demand growth of 9.4% through 2017 against the global average of 7.9% according to IATA research. Overall international aircraft capacity rose 6.4% while load factor climbed 1.1% to 80.6%. All regions recorded year-over-year increases in demand. Latin America was also particularly strong with 9.3% international passenger growth. More
Asia’s biggest serviced apartment operator, The Ascott Limited, has announced aggressive expansion plans. “With the global economic upswing and international travel arrivals hitting a new high, we are confident of exceeding 80,000 units this year. We see immense potential to scale up to 160,000 units worldwide in the next five years,” said Kevin Goh, Ascott’s Chief Executive Officer (pictured). Its brands include Ascott, Citadines, Somerset, Quest, The Crest Collection, and lyf. Ascott has a presence in 130 cities across 30 countries.
Bound Round, a business which started life as a kids travel app” and expanded into other area of publishing – has continued its evolution as a multi-platform travel media company, buying the Family Travel magazine and brand from Elwin Media.
CEO Janeece Keller (pictured) said the merger creates the largest family travel editorial platform in Asia Pacific with a “combined reach of over 3,500,000 (readers, viewers??) per year.” More
Leading consumer research company Roy Morgan says more Australians want to visit the United States than any other destination.
This bullish perspective is based on interviews conducted in the past year and is part of a long-term aspirational trend that continues despite the election of Donald Trump as US President. More
Queenstown and Auckland were the star performers in a hot New Zealand accommodation market during 2017, according to analyst STR. Overall NZ hotel room revenue rose 12% through the year. Queenstown was up 15.3% followed closely by Auckland at 13.4% revenue growth. The strong performance was driven by a buoyant tourism market and virtually no new rooms built. Overall NZ occupancy reached 80%.
Fun PR stunt from Sydney Aquarium staff, who got into the Australia Day spirit earlier this week.
The tourism boom shows no signs of abating with strong travel figures once again reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Inbound tourism grew 7.2% during November with India (+19.6%), Hong Kong (+20.7%) and South Korea (+16%) the fastest-growing major markets. Outbound trips by Australian in the month were 4.7% higher than the previous year despite drops in travel to the United States (-4.8%), Indonesia (5.8%) and Fiji (-5.1%).
The ABC reports that Gidget Retro Teardrop Campers has gone into voluntary administration owing customers, staff, investors and suppliers $3.5m with one of its directors due to face court on 11 charges amid claims the company had sought insolvency advice more than 18 months ago but kept trading. “It was a really good business driven into the ground by poor management,” one former employee said.
See ABC coverage.
Australia’s corporate regulator is taking a closer look at Accor Asia Pacific’s proposed $1.3 billion acquisition of its major Australian rival, Mantra Group. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it needs more time to investigate the impact this seminal transaction will have on the Australian accommodation market. More
Who’s Who in The ANZ Travel Zoo
People, Companies, Research, Data.
Travel IQ is an industry-first initiative dedicated to providing definitive data on the ANZ travel industry’s leading companies and people.
It fills a yawning gap in the local travel industry – so much going on, so little meaningful information on the people and companies who make it tick.
Research is well advanced, and the first iteration is due for release by June 1.
Travel IQ will feature:
- Top 150 travel businesses in Australia and NZ, local focus
- Detailed profiles, expert industry analysis, exclusive insights
- Information on hundreds of ANZ industry leaders
- Major industry investors, deals and transactions listed
- Key sector overviews and analysis
- Financial information where possible
- Interviews with industry entrepreneurs and innovators
- Member access to 3000+ unique stories on TravelTrends.biz
Travel IQ is being researched and written by TravelTrends.biz publisher Martin Kelly.
It will cover the leading companies and people in retail, inbound, cruise, shipping, attractions, operators, aviation, tours & activities, media, technology, shipping, car rental and accommodation.
There’s an initial focus on locally-owned companies and industry dynamics.
Due to nature of travel, private companies dominate the research though every publicly-listed company (there are now more than 30) with exposure to travel will be covered.
Travel IQ will also feature key New Zealand companies and investors, while select international companies with substantial local infrastructure and holdings will come under the microscope.
The aim is for Travel IQ to be the indispensable, insiders guide to the local travel industry.
It will evolve over time and more details will be revealed in the coming weeks.
If you'd like to register your interest in the project, please sign up for updates.
Alternatively you can contact Martin Kelly on 61-414-774-978 if you believe your company should be included.
- 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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Holiday rental brand