We’ve done all the hard work, so you don’t have to! Read on for the top ten travel news stories we think you need to know today.
1. Virgin’s new partnership flies towards more charters
Virgin Australia has entered a charter partnership with Alliance Aviation Services to leverage on each others strengths and increase their respective charter businesses.
Announced this morning, Virgin will work with the airline to coordinate their networks and jointly grow their charter operations.
Additionally, they’ll align their products, service offerings and technical expertise to develop what Virgin described as a “compelling customer proposition”. Plus the agreement will see the pair jointly provide and procure services for each other on a preferential basis.
2. Flight Centre makes an entertaining acquisition
Flight Centre is keeping the industry on its toes right now, with new partnerships, open plans, virtual agents and now a new acquisition in… Hong Kong.
The travel company revealed plans this morning to acquire a local event management and production company, Maya Events, to boost its presence in the MICE sector within Greater China.
Hong Kong-based Maya Events has been in operation for over a decade and was originally launched by local businesswoman, Mireya Garcia. In 2011, it expanded when Yamilette M.Cano joined the business.
3. This agent is going to Colombia with G Adventures
Everybody put the envy (#SOOOjealous) aside for a second and send a whole lot of love and congratulations to STA Travel New Zealand’s Laura Morrison – the first winner of G Adventures’ UMI.
The Uber Massive Incentive (UMI) kicked off in January this year, giving consultants the chance to sell G Adventures’ tours in exchange for being in the running to WIN one of 14 prizes over 14 weeks.
Prizes include GoPro packages, Mountain Design and National Geographic subscriptions. There’s also monthly tour prizes for an agent and one friend include a trip to Colombia, an adventure through Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and nine days in Japan.
4. New Caledonia is social & neighbourly in 2016
New Caledonia Tourism is adding a little more love to its ‘Hello Neighbour‘ marketing campaign, by giving consumers the chance to map out their ideal New Cal adventure and ACTUALLY take it.
Yep, it’s a competition within the tourism bureau’s first ever social media marketing campaign.
In a bid to build on the tourism growth from Australia last year, the bureau has started to roll out phase two of the ‘Hello Neighbour’ campaign, which invites consumers to log onto Instagram, visit @newcaladventure and start planning their ideal trip.
5. Quake shakes Christchurch
Here’s a cell-friendly crop of @twieberneit‘s photo of Christchurch cliff collapse #eqnz pic.twitter.com/G32RNBJIGM
— Seǝn Gillespie (@SeanDG) February 14, 2016
Christchurch is still standing after it was hit by a 5.7 magnitude quake on Valentine’s Day – days before the five-year anniversary of the major 2011 earthquake.
The earth started moving at around 1.13pm on the east of Christchurch. Despite the severity of the shake, there have been no reports of damage or fatalities.
However, according to BBC, the force of the quake did cause parts of a cliff to collapse.
Flights to Christchurch continue to operate as usual and there have been no reports of hotel closures.
6. Scenic extends its Getaway relationship
The affair between Scenic and Nine Network’s travel program, Getaway, continues, with the river cruise line signing up as a main sponsor for a fifth season.
The sponsorship, which began in 2012, has seen Scenic showcase four destinations per year through three dedicated half hour episodes per destination.
There have been a total of 18 shoots to date, with the Getaway team travelling to every continent and over 30 countries with the luxury travel operator – from Antarctica and Russia to Zambia and Slovakia.
The crew have spent almost a year filming the Scenic portfolio including 126 days of cruising, and they have travelled 340,000 kilometres, over eight times around the Earth.
“Our guests love to tune in and plan their next Scenic trip and travel agents love how Getaway and their presenters can bring a destination to life for their clients driving them to book because of what they have seen.”
Liz Glover, Scenic National Marketing Manager
7. Ballet director pivots into MTA
Mobile Travel Agents will hear from Queensland’s Ballet artistic director, Li Cunxin aka ‘Mao’s last dancer’, during its their annual conference.
Cunxin will head a stellar line-up of presenters taking part in the company’s 2016 ‘The Power of Community’ National Conference from 4-6 March.
Other key speakers include master of ceremonies ABC TV ‘The Gruen Transfer’ regular, Dan Gregory, as well as award-winning small business expert Sophie Andrews; principal of The Accounts Studio; and high profile behavioural researcher, strategist, author, educator and corporate coach Kieran Flanagan, of The Impossible Institute™.
Speakers will be added to a busy schedule of business, peer-to-peer networking sessions, conference hot spots and a BBQ Garden Party.
8. A free upgrade for Star Alliance Gold Card holders
SONY DSC
Star Alliance’s Gold Card members can now enjoy a free upgrade on Heathrow Express’ trains as part of a new special partnership.
Customers just need to purchase a standard class single or return ticket for the Heathrow Express, the fastest rail link between the airport and London Paddington Station.
Once on the train, customers can choose any available seat in Business First Class and show both their train ticket and Star Alliance Gold Card to the attendant.
Amenities in Business First include complimentary newspapers and magazines, more leg room, wider seats, a personal table, a power socket at each seat and on-board TV.
The promotion is open to all frequent flyers holding Gold Status in any of the 21 Frequent Flyer Programmes offered by the Star Alliance member airlines. The offer will run from 15 February until further notice.
9. Love was literally in the air with Scoot
A loved-up Singaporean couple said ‘I Do’ at 40,000-feet on Valentine’s Day, making it Singapore’s first-ever in-flight wedding.
The special ceremony took place on Scoot’s Flight TZ8 from Singapore to Perth, with the couple’s friends and family members on board.
Upon arrival in Australia, the pair and their guests checked into the Novotel Vines Resort and are now enjoying a six-day honeymoon in Western Australia.
The wedding was the culmination of Scoot’s “Spoil Market Lah” campaign, which aimed to transform the most unromantic man in Singapore into one capable of making grand gestures of love.
The campaign also involved collaboration with Tourism Western Australia to feature Perth as a romantic getaway.
10. A HUGE feat for Circular Quay
Double ParkingCircular Quay: Port Authority pulls off ultimate parking challenge. www.7news.com.au #7News
Posted by 7 News Sydney on Saturday, February 13, 2016
If you were wondering what all the work up at Circular Quay has been about for the past year and a bit, you finally have a visual answer.
The multi-million dollar expansion is officially complete, allowing the port to handle larger ships – or in this case more ships.
The video above sees the port’s first ever double parking with Ponant’s Le Soleal and Azamara Cruises’ Azamara Quest.
Ponant’s local boss, Sarina Bratton said the double park took “a lot of planning and tape measurement because there’s not a lot of room to spare”.
