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. Kiwis score record low fares to London with Flight Centre
Booking flights from Oceania to anywhere in the world is like playing a game of limbo these days because air fares keep going down, down and down to record lows.
And we’re totally grateful BTW!
Here in Australia we’ve enjoyed some pretty generous discounts to the United States all year long, and now we’ve got a fair few incentives to hop on over to Europe.
Across the Tasman, Flight Centre New Zealand made headlines overnight after unveiling fares to London that are so cheap, they’re the cheapest they’ve ever been.
2. Travellers Choice members are getting a share of the record profits… again
One year of record returns was a nice surprise, but a second and a third and now a fourth – that’s just bloody awesome.
Airline employees aren’t the only ones financially benefiting from their company’s surplus this year, because Travellers Choice is also giving its network members a slice of the profit… again!
The group announced it’s giving its shareholders (which are exclusively the network’s members) record dividends for the fourth year in a row to mark the company’s fourth consecutive year of record profits.
Travellers Choice reported its pre-tax operating profits for the 2015/16 year jumped 13 percent on the previous 12 months to $2.10 million.
3. Book an Intrepid trip & earn Qantas loyalty points
The Intrepid Group has teamed up with Qantas Frequent Flyer to give the airline’s loyalty members around 2,500 reasons to book the tour operator’s adventures.
Intrepid and Peregrine are the latest additions to the Flying Kangaroo’s loyalty program and are offering frequent flyers the chance to earn around 2,500 on Intrepid Travel bookings or 3,500 on Peregrine Adventures trips that cost $1,000 or more.
These points are in addition to the points earned when frequent flyers pay with their Qantas Points earning credit card and bookings with Qantas or its partner airlines.
4. Here’s where you can fly to in Italy with Virgin Australia’s code
Virgin Australia has extended its code share arrangement with Alitalia to add its VA code on 11 domestic flights in Italy.
The pair initially kicked off their code share agreement earlier this year, to add each other’s codes on flights from Australia to Abu Dhabi and then from Abu Dhabi onwards to Italy.
However, the upgraded code share revealed this week will allow Australians to book internal flights in Italy through Virgin Australia.
5. OMG, this is how Britain plans to woo Aussie visitors
VisitBritain is going after Australian visitors in an OMG big way, with its first major marketing campaign in the country in over five years kicking off this week.
Images of the destination’s unforgettable and unique experiences will pop up across newspapers, magazines and digital publications as part of the six-week #OMGB (Oh My Great Britain) ‘Home of Amazing Moments’ marketing campaign.
Around £1.6m will be spent by the tourism organisation to display images of authentic experiences and activities shot on locations across Britain to inspire Australians to visit and find their own amazing moments.
6. Grab a bottle of champagne! The Walshe Group turned 40 year
They’ve probably invited you to a few Hawaii Tourism events or you may have received some news about Oman from them.
They’re likely to be the ones to send you on a famil of Abu Dhabi in the future or help you organise your flights to Japan with All Nippon Airways (ANA).
The Walshe Group are well known in the travel industry, partly because of their sweet staff, extensive and recognisable list of clients, but also because they’ve been around for quite some time… 40 years to be exact.
7. Props from The Hunger Games are coming to Sydney
The Girl on Fire’s dress, Mockingjay’s armor, Katniss’s bow and more key props from the popular The Hunger Games franchise are coming to Sydney for The Hunger Games: The Exhibition.
The show is set to attract thousands of fans when it opens on 20 December with seven galleries featuring authentic costumes and props, high-tech and hands-on interactive and detailed set recreations.
Highlights include iconic costumes from the four films such as the Girl on Fire dress; the Mockingjay dress and the Mockingjay armor; key artifacts including the Mockingjay pin, Cinna’s sketchbook and Katniss’s bow; and interactive experiences including an explorable map of Panem, the Gamemaker’s control table and a stunt choreography challenge.
Tickets are on sale from 13 September.
8. LUX highlights Agent program in Australia
Dinner with Lux Resorts & Hotel in Sydney
LUX* Resorts & Hotels is set to significantly boost both its MICE and upscale Leisure business focus in the Australian market following its first Australian Sales Roadshow 1-9 September, 2016.
The LUX* portfolio is seeking to grow its Australian business by more than 50 percent in the coming 2 years via its new resorts in the UAE, Reunion Island, Maldives, Turkey, China and the relaunch of LUX* South Ari Atoll in the Mal-dives.
To date, the Australian market has continued to rank in their top 10 source of revenue for the past 2 years in a row.
9. Egencia hosts key industry members in new Sydney office
Egencia hosted a number of Australian Travel Industry partners and suppliers at their new Sydney office in the heart of Martin Place to show off the new space and connect with valued peers.
The event saw the group enjoy a few drinks, nibblies and a friend inter-industry table tennis match.
“Not only were we able to open the doors of our new home to our valued friends and partners for the first time, we also had the chance to catch up and thank everyone individually for their support, as we close out a very busy second half of the year,” Jacqui Timmins, Egencia Australia interim Managing Director said.
Click here for more pictures.
