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The Daily Travel Agent Bite: Mon 27 Feb

Skill up on all you need to know with bite sized travel news designed specifically to help you, the Travel Agent, be your best today and tomorrow.

Skill up on all you need to know with bite sized travel news designed specifically to help you, the Travel Agent, be your best today and tomorrow.

1. “Oh no, we didn’t close the plane door properly”

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A flight attendant’s job may seem glamorous and simple, but it’s actually a lot more layered and difficult than you realise.

They undergo unimaginable and vigorous training, they’re on their feet for hours on end, they’re forced to deal with some questionable characters and they have the lives of hundreds of travellers in their hands.

It’s a tough gig. So tough that sometimes they forget to do the more basic tasks, like closing the front door of the plane.

Read on

 

2. Airfare bargains dent Qantas & Flight Centre profits

flightboard-qantas-karryon

The Flight Centre Travel Group released their figures for the six months to 31 December 2016 on Thursday with record sales of $5 billion for the first time ever and a pre tax profit of $109.2 million.

However, airlines’ adding capacity as well as new players entering the market led to international airfares hitting record lows in the last twelve months, which contributed to a 36 per cent drop in half-year profits.

Qantas, who also released their half-year profits on Thursday, reported a 25 per cent loss in its profits, despite still posting a solid result across the group.

Read on

 

3. Where is…? The most Googled travel questions of 2016

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Australians are pretty decent when it comes to geography, especially when compared with our brothers and sisters across the Pacific Ocean. But according to Google, we still have much to learn…

In fact, pretty embarrassingly, Australians in 2016 had to consult Google to answer some very basic geography questions, questions that you’d think would be common knowledge.

Of course, as Travel Agents, you guys already score highly on the geography knowledge scale, but the evidence is in and clearly many Australians need a little help.

Read on

 

4. It has no cash or politics – this is the city future tourists may visit

Screen Shot 2017-02-27 at 10.46.51 AM

*Switches voice setting to Sophia from The Golden Girls*. Picture it: Earth, year 2117 and future tourists are flocking to a sustainable destination where politics do not exist, there’s no need for cash and there’s no poverty or war.

It may sound like the setting of a sci-fi film but it’s actually the utopian vision of futurists Jacque Fresco and Roxanne Meadows, who have been tucked away in their Florida home trying to bring their fantasy destination to life.

Speaking to Futurist, Meadows said ‘the Venus Project’ aims to redesign the world’s social system by building a sustainable new world where civilisation operates in a completely new way.

Read on

 

5. Australia’s Tourism Legend is…

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While the world patiently waits for this year’s Oscars, Australia’s tourism industry gathered for its own highly revered awards night over the weekend.

Hundreds of tourism and travel professionals slipped into their Sunday best and gathered at the Hilton in Darwin for the annual Australian Tourism Awards where they found out who the best of the best in the industry were throughout 2016.

Highlights from the evening included finding out who would take home the Australian Tourism Legend awards… Harvey Lister.

Read on

 

6. Amadeus 2016 financial results

Amadeus

Amadeus IT Group, S.A. achieved adjusted profit of €911.0 million for the full year of 2016, which represents growth of 21.2 percent compared to 2015. This growth was supported by an increase of 14.3 percent in revenue, to €4,472.9 million, and 16.0 percent in EBITDA to €1,700.1 million.

The company’s President and CEO, Luis Maroto, attributed the positive result to the company’s core businesses and diversification strategy as well as the consolidation of Navitaire.

“Given the positive trend of new contracts we have seen so far in 2017, we are confident that Amadeus will have a solid financial performance this year, supported by a moderate pick up in global economic growth as predicted by IMF.”

 

7. Regal Hotels International moves into Australia

Regal International Hotels

Regal Hotels International is hoping to build its brand awareness within the Aussie market with its first regional sales office opening in Sydney next month.

Ms Charmaine Wong has been appointed as the Business Development Manager and will use her 20-year industry background to manage the marketing of all 17 Regal hotels to the Australian and New Zealand markets.

The group offers two distinct brands of hotel –  the luxury Regal brand and the budget I Club brand. It has a great choice of eight hotels in Hong Kong and nine in China. In all the group offers a choice of 9,500 rooms and 82 restaurants and bars for the two brands.

 

8. Why was there a $9m boost to Cairns tourism from Korea?

Jin Air feature

Cairns and the Great Barrier’s tourism industry is celebrating a $9 million boost to the economy after almost 6,000 Korean tourists visited the region thanks to Jin Air’s new direct services.

Tourism Tropical North Queensland (TTNQ) Chief Executive Officer Alex de Waal attributed the mid-December to early February rise in tourism to the 16 flights from South Korea to Cairns, which operated at 97 percent capacity.

Unsurprisingly, the success of the new route has triggered discussions between Cairns Airport and Jin Air to introduce additional seasonal flights and potentially a year-round service.

 

9. Queen Mary 2’s Sydney rendezvous with Queen Elizabeth

Image: James Morgan

Image: James Morgan

Cunard hosted a Royal Rendezvous on Sydney Harbour over the weekend where Queen Mary 2 met her younger sister Queen Elizabeth.

The visit of the two Queens comes almost a decade to the day since the famous cruise liner first sailed into Sydney and celebrates her recent AU$145 million remastering which saw 50 new staterooms added, including its first ever single staterooms, as well as Cunard’s first wine cellar at sea and a new Carinthia Lounge.

Speaking onboard the liner in Sydney, Ann Sherry, Executive Chairman of Carnival Australia which represents Cunard, said Queen Mary 2’s maiden visit in 2007 had been a catalyst for a surge of interest in cruise tourism in Australia.

Click here for a video of the Royal Rendezvous.

 

10. Helloworld for Business Agents get up close to the NBL Action

Travel Agent Helloworld Agents at NBL

Helloworld for Business recently hosted Agents in Sydney and Melbourne for some exciting NBL games in each city.

Among those hosted were local consultants and guests from The Travel Authority and Eden Travel for the Sydney Kings vs New Zealand Breakers at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney and local Melbourne Agents from Reho Travel, Travel Connections, Verve Travel Management and 1000Mile Travel for Melbourne United vs Illawarra Hawks at Hisense Arena.

Helloworld said the VIP experience was a chance to get up close to the NBL action and give attendees a unique corporate experience and opportunity to connect with each other.

What are your thoughts on today’s travel news?