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. Travel Agents keep winning with Etihad
There’s nine more happy Travel Agents out there in Australia who have just won back the cost of a flight for themselves and their clients as part of Etihad’s latest incentive.
The ‘Your Flight, Our Shout‘ promotion runs until 4 July and is giving consultants a really good reason to sell the Abu Dhabi-based airline’s flights by offering the chance to WIN back the cost of a flight they sold – it could be Economy OR Business.
There’s some $250,000 in airfares to be refunded and the carrier has already dished out up to $96,000 to 14 Travel Agents in total.
2. P&O suspends contract with tour operator in Vanuatu
P&O Cruises’ parent company, Carnival Australia, has suspended its contract with its tour operator in Port Vila until a full investigation into yesterday’s road accident is complete.
The tour operator’s bus was returning from a trip to Ekasup Cultural Village with 12 P&O guests when it crashed into a local bus.
Three locals were killed in the collision and 10 tourists from Australia were evacuated for treatment.
3. Helloworld inks deal with Jetstar
Helloworld may have just responded to Flight Centre’s arrangement with Tigerair by signing its own agreement with Jetstar.
Earlier this year, Flight Centre announced a three-year deal with Virgin’s budget off-shoot to give its Agents access to the carrier’s full suite of products and launch joint marketing activities designed to promote Tigerair’s new-look product and experience.
Now, Helloworld has revealed a similar arrangement with Jetstar that runs for one year and involves joint marketing and sales activities, investigating new commercial opportunities and exploring benefits to the businesses.
4. Temporary runway work completed in Vanuatu
Vanuatu’s tourism leaders say Port Vila has completed its temporary runway work to a standard that’s safe enough to consider charter jet operations.
The tourism bureau said it received a detailed debrief from the prime contractor and Air New Zealand is reportedly comfortable to potentially operate charter flights.
The announcement comes five months after Air New Zealand decided to suspend services to the destination due to ongoing concerns about the condition of the runway.
5. Louvre Abu Dhabi edges closer to completion
Louvre Abu Dhabi has reached another two major milestones in the construction of the museum: commencement of the removal of temporary sea protection walls, and the illumination of the museum’s iconic dome.
The process of removing the sea walls and integration of the sea with the museum will take place in three stages and result in Louvre Abu Dhabi transforming into Jean Nouvel’s vision of a ‘Museum City’ on the sea.
The installation of 4,500 lights to the dome’s steel structure has also been completed, illuminating Louvre Abu Dhabi at night. This permanent feature is controlled by a lighting system which allows the adjustment of the level of brightness.
Louvre Abu Dhabi has been designed as a ‘museum city’ on the sea, with its series of white buildings inspired by the medina and low-lying Arab settlements. In total there are approximately 55 individual buildings making up this museum city.
6. Google Trekker hikes through British Columbia
The Google team have loaned Canada’s Destination British Columbia its Google Street View Trekkers to capture the destination’s stunning landscape and share it with potential travellers on Google Maps.
The wearable backpacks outfitted with 15 separate cameras that collect 360-degree panoramic imagery in remote outdoor locations inaccessible by car, will capture hike desert trails, old-growth forests and mountains.
Using Google Street View, British Columbians and people from around the globe will be able to virtually hike in some of the province’s vast wilderness and be inspired by the powerful nature they see around them. After the images are collected, they will be sent to the Google Maps team in California to be processed and uploaded to Google Maps, which takes several months.
When the images go live on Google Maps, British Columbia’s wild places will join a select group of bucket-list Street View Trekker destinations such as the Pyramids of Giza, the Grand Canyon and the Galapagos Islands.
7. WA consultants trek through Africa with TravelCube
A heart-racing flight over the surreal Seven Coloured Earths and the Black River Gorges – it might sound a like a scene from Games of Thrones but was in fact just one of the activities six Western Australian agents experienced on a recent tour of southern Africa thanks to TravelCube and Air Mauritius.
The helicopter journey over the famous geological formations of south-western Mauritius wasn’t the only adrenaline-spiking experience offered by the island nation. One consultant’s blood pressure rose rapidly when she lost her passport for 24 hours, and the entire group took some lions for a walk at Casela Nature Park.
TravelCube Sales Executive WA Sophie Weller says the agents were struck by how much variety Mauritius offers visitors.
The top-selling agents also visited Cape Town on the trip, staying at Bay Hotel, exploring the city and its beaches aboard the city’s Hop-On Hop-Off bus, and riding the cable car to the top of Table Mountain.
8. itravel Agents set sail on Pacific Aria
Eight itravel Agents set sail on P&O Cruises’ Pacific Aria last week, to better understand and sell the on board product.
Zach Gregory and his P&O team accompanied consultants on the two-night taster cruise from Sydney to Brisbane.
Highlights of the trip included learning how to make cocktails at the martini masterclass, eating at all the restaurants and experiencing Bianco, the P&O White Party.
