LA Monthly

G'Day from LA...

The year has taken off with a roaring start! We have been thick in the planning of the major campaigns that will run beginning September and the final stages of planning for Corroboree The Americas 2010 on Hamilton Island!

The TQ Americas team is off to a flying start already with over 40% of Corroboree Aussie Specialists traveling through Queensland pre and post Corroboree and record Aussie Specialists signed up to attend! We also have had six media traveling through Queensland in the past six weeks. Thank you to all of you who have supported these trips and for your ongoing support of trade and media famils – it is the best way for us to build Queensland Ambassadors through having them experience Queensland first hand.

Feedback from the North American trade is that high end bookings are coming back and the year is busier than last year – which is great news.

Please be sure to continue to send us information on any new products that you may have as well as any press releases.

For those of you going to Corroboree, we look forward to seeing you there. Don’t forget to save the date for the International Market Briefings in your area in October.

Best Regards,

Shana and the team!

Webjet Launches US Operation

Australia’s largest online travel agency, Webjet Marketing North America LLC, officially announced its long-rumored expansion to the US, opening an office in Tampa’s historic Hyde Park district.

In addition to providing the cheapest airfares available, Webjet.com will also offer car and hotel online bookings to their US customers.  Click here to read more.

Travelocity Finds That Green Hotels Get Higher Overall Ratings in Customer Reviews

Not only are green hotels better for the environment, travelers overwhelmingly prefer them. Travelocity announced that eco-friendly hotels get higher consumer reviews than their non-green counterparts.

Read more about the trend here.

Islands of the Great Barrier Reef campaign with Signature Travel Network

Tourism Queensland has launched an Islands of the Great Barrier Reef campaign that aims to educate the US market about the Islands and incentivize bookings to these stunning destinations with a “Stay 5 nights, Pay 4 nights” offer.  The campaign is a partnership with travel agent consortia, Signature Travel Network.

Signature Travel Network will target both trade and consumers.  The campaign includes a 4-page advertorial in Signature’s “The Travel Magazine” (500,000 readers), an e-newsletter to 600,000 travelers, banner ads and a feature story on travel websites and on Signature’s 1,100 travel agency websites.

Consumers will be encouraged to find out more about the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef with a Signature promotion that will see one lucky winner receive their dream vacation to the Island of their choice.

Signature will encourage their 6,000 travel agents to get involved in the Islands campaign with an incentive trip to those agents who book Islands of the Great Barrier Reef vacations.

This extensive campaign aims to raise the profile of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef to compete with Tahiti, Mexico, Hawaii, Caribbean and Maldives to become a favorite Island vacation destination for Americans!

Air Canada Vacations Campaign

Tourism Queensland has teamed up with Tourism Australia to leverage the launch of Air Canada Vacation’s Australia product range, featuring Queensland destinations.

Along with staff training, there is a targeted online and press campaign and a large amount in of exposure in Air Canada’s in-flight magazine and in-flight video, so it’s bound to be seen by a good amount of Air Canada’s 33 million yearly passengers!.

I Heart Aussie

Tourism Queensland has teamed up with Tourism New South Wales, Tourism Australia and V Australia on the I Heart Aussie Campaign with Down Under Answers! The campaign will feature the iconic Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef itinerary as the feature and is targeted at first time experience seekers. This campaign was very successful last year and we are excited to be a part of this campaign again. Contact Kerryn@duatravel.com.

Swain Tours

In another partnership with Tourism New South Wales, we are planning a luxury campaign with Swain Tours. The campaign will feature Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef with a luxury focus, targeting the first time experience seeker. While we are still working on the details of the campaign, please contact ian@swaintours.com for opportunities to be involved.

Best of Australia Trade Mission 2010: 2-12 November 2010

There a only a couple of places left in the 2010 Best of Australia North American sales mission, so make sure you register today!

After the extremely successful Best of Australia North American sales mission in 2009, Tourism Queensland and Tourism New South Wales are once again joining forces to showcase our destination and product offerings to key trade partners and travel media in 2010. The Sales Mission will be held from Tuesday November 2 till November 12, and visit the cities of Los Angeles, Vancouver, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York. Workshops will be organized in each city with Wholesale Product Managers, Owners, Executives, travel agents and media. Please contact Ben Fleming for further information. 

New Product Workshop

Stay tuned for updates on New Product Workshop, in planning for 2011…

Whitehaven Beach given Top Beach Honor

Tourism Whitsunday’s submission to top US news outlet, CNN, proved successful as Whitehaven was announced the World’s Best Eco-Friendly Beach.  Whitehaven Beach beat out exotic and remote locations in Costa Rica, Brazil and Hawaii for the top spot and the Tourism Whitsunday’s website was hit with some serious online traffic as a result.  Click here to see the full list.

North American Journalists Visiting Queensland

Ty Sawyer spent a week on a Mike Ball liveaboard trip to Cod Hole, before visiting the Daintree, the Atherton Tablelands and heading to Orpheus Island.  Ty is a writer and editor for ISLANDS, Sport Diver and Scuba Diving Magazines.

An MTV Production for the reality show “Made” played out a real life drama, with the stars put through interesting challenges at key spots in Cairns, the Atherton Tablelands and Mission Beach.

Verna Gates, Andrew Skwarek and Bob Howells experienced their first certified dive on the Great Barrier Reef on a Lean to Dive famil.  None of the journalists had ever dived before, so went through the entire process from theory in a pool to spending two nights on a liveaboard.  Pro-Dive Cairns and Deep Sea Diver’s Den took great care of them and they are thrilled with now being certified divers.  They also spent a day in Brisbane and a day in the Daintree Rainforest.  Verna writes for Reuters, Andrew writes for shermanstravel.com and Bob writes for AAA Westways.  Between them, they’ll reach around 1 billion consumers worldwide with their coverage!! 

Name: Philippe Blain

Title: Director International Development

Company: Air Canada Vacations

Company history: Air Canada's leisure travel division, is celebrating 2 great events in 2010. Its 30th anniversary and the launch of its FIRST program to AUSTRALIA!

Located in: Montreal, Quebec

How can Philippe help you: By way of the valuable marketing tools with have at our disposition as a division of Air Canada, I can help you establish strong brand awareness on the Canadian market.

Favorite Queensland holiday: There's so many! How to choose? Cruising to Whitehaven beach or maybe spending the night on the Great Barrier Reef with Reef Encounter or enjoying a full day tour to Kuranda taking the time to stop at the Koala Garden to cuddle one of the locals!

Most admires: Persistency and positiveness

Claim to fame: I am blessed with the most beautiful wife and kids!

Email: pblain@vacv.com