The Visit USA Organisation Impresses Campbelltown Region

On a dark, stormy night over 60 travel agents braved the conditions to attend the Visit USA Australia Campbelltown Agent Expo recently. Agents came from as far afield as Wollongong, Emu Plains and the Southern Highlands to learn about the USA from the experts.

“What a FANTASTIC night it was. Thank you very much to you and the Visit USA Committee for organising such a wonderful expo. I have learnt a lot of new things about the destination which I hope to use during my sales,” commented Andrew Tran, travel consultant for the Flight Centre Travel Group.

Guests enjoyed a sit down two course dinner and the ever popular prize draw had many people heading home with smiles. Especially Melissa Gray of Chisolm and Turner in Camden as she won the  Fijian Airways ticket to Los Angeles, Alamo car rental, $100 from Pinpoint and $200 from Expedia for spending money. A worthy recipient as she has never been to America before.

Next month the Visit USA Expo will be in Perth and October it will be in Far North Queensland – Cairns and Townsville.  RSVP’s will be happily accepted through the Visit USA website.

More information on all Visit USA events can be found here

Travellers Choice frontline agents entertain Queensland conference

When Marita Behrendorff turned up at Travellers Choice’s recent ‘Frontliners’ gathering in Brisbane she was looking forward to refreshing her product knowledge and connecting with key suppliers. Instead the Maryborough agent found herself playing The Entertainer as she revived her latent musical skills.

Behrendorff, owner of Aspire Travel & Cruise, was attending the annual conference along with 70 Travellers Choice consultants and 40 of the national retail group’s preferred suppliers.

One of the highlights of this year’s event, held once again at Brisbane’s View Hotel, was provided by AAT Kings, which converted one of its sleek coaches into a clever mobile piano bar, and invited agents to tinkle the ivories.

“I learned to play the piano up to 8th Grade AMEB*, which is a fairly high level, and I actually have a piano at home, but I hadn’t played for a while before I stepped onto the bus,” says Behrendorff, who managed to perform The Entertainer from the movie The Sting. “It has definitely inspired me to play again now.”

Frontliner conferences enable consultants to deepen their preferred product knowledge by engaging with suppliers, and Behrendorff says the events are particularly valuable for regional agents, who have less face-to-face contact with sales representatives.

Agents attending this year’s event had the chance to win a range of prizes from suppliers, and Travellers Choice itself offered a door prize of a $200 gift voucher, which Managing Director Christian Hunter presented to Beth Paton from Discover Travel & Cruise Stafford and The Gap.

Eclipse Travel invites Aussie travel agents to explore Peru

Eclipse Travel, specialists in key adventure destinations such as Antarctica, the Arctic, Africa and Latin America, would like to invite an intimate group of Australian travel agents to Peru for a famil from Monday 31 October to Thursday 10 November 2016.
During the 11-day famil, several lucky agents will be whisked away to the rich history and ancient cultures in Peru. Participants will be flown from Sydney to Lima on 31 October, followed by an exclusive Lima tour and an evening flight from Lima to Arequipa the next day.
The team will then explore the colonial-era capital of Peru’s Arequipa Region through a city tour, venture into the brightly coloured Santa Catalina Monastery, and make their way to Cruz del Cóndor – the famous viewpoint to view the Colca Canyon and to spot the native Andean condors.
On day 5, the agents will fly to Cusco and spend an afternoon in the city to soak in the beauty of the Spanish colonial architecture, and step back into time in the Inca ruins nearby before heading off to Explora Sacred Valley for two nights to discover the natural and cultural wealth of the Sacred Valley and its fascinating Inca heritage.
Agents will catch a morning train to Machu Picchu in the Andes Mountains on day 8 for a visit, followed by hotel site inspections in Aguas Calientes and Cusco on days 9 and 10. The group will travel back home from Lima afterwards and arrive in Sydney on 10 November.
Directors Matt McMillan and Tim Farquhar explain the purpose of the famil, “This is a great opportunity for our fellow Aussie agents to familiarise with the exceptional products Eclipse Travel has to offer, and we are very excited to share our inspiring Peru itineraries with some of the best agents in Australia.”
For more information or to express your interest in joining the famil, please contact enquiries@eclipsetravel.com.au

Countdown Begins for TravelManagers 2016 National Conference

With less than three weeks to go, the anticipation is building for personal travel managers as the countdown begins to the company’s ninth national conference. The TravelManagers 2016 national conference with a theme of ‘Adding Value’ will be held 19-21 August in Bangkok.

“The conference theme of adding value really resonates with all that we do. At TravelManagers inspiring people through our personal experiences is not just our business, it’s what we believe in. Our personal travel managers are all inspirational people who love to travel and share that love of travel with our clients.   We add value to our clients by giving them travel ideas and suggestions, right from the dreaming and planning stages right through to the time they return home,” says TravelManagers’ Executive General Manager Michael Gazal.

The three-day conference will focus on equipping personal travel managers with the skills, insights and practical ideas to truly add value to their clients’ holiday experiences.

Macao’s young musicians tune into Australian tour

Some of Macao’s finest young musicians are playing the role of ambassadors on a two-week tour of Australia, which began at an evening concert on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast on Wednesday, August 3.

Headed by world renowned conductor Lio Kuokman the Macao Youth Symphony Orchestra will also perform in prime concerts in Brisbane, Hobart and Sydney, this concert to be filmed by the ABC for showing three days later.

The final performance will be staged at Melbourne’s Monash University, on Sunday, August 14.

Since its inception in 1997, the orchestra has given more than 200 public performances, drawing its members from local universities, secondary and primary schools.

During those years, the group has performed in China, Hong Kong, Austria, Italy, the USA, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Germany, Thailand and Australia.

In 2010, the MYSO was awarded by the government of the Macao Special Administrative Region of China the Order of Merit in Culture.

The Sydney concert will take place at Sydney Town Hall on Wednesday, August 10, from 7.30pm, tickets priced from $20.39 a student, $30.58 an adult and $84.68 a family of four.

Ticket details: http://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=MACAOSYM16

Magellan strengthens Head Office team

Magellan Travel Group has announced further appointments to strengthen their Head office team and service to existing and potential new members.

Having joined, initially on contract, David Stafford has been confirmed in an ongoing role as Commercial & Operations Manager to strengthen the commercial return for members and suppliers alike from preferred partnerships.

He will also oversee some special projects around IATA ticketing help and measurement, forecasting and management of revenue.

“David’s commercial expertise in this area is second to none and he will help our members and preferred suppliers to engage more effectively to drive benefit for both” said Andrew Macfarlane, CEO.

And in their first Sydney based appointment Magellan has appointed Scott Darlow, formerly of Singapore Airlines and Qantas Airways, as National Manager, Magellan Corporate.

“Scott will develop the value proposition for our Corporate members and help them to grow their businesses as well as attracting more Corporate Agents to the Group” said Macfarlane, adding “it’s no accident that Scott will be Sydney-based as he will grow our presence in that important market as well as having National responsibility for the Corporate Group”.

The appointments follow recent comments from Macfarlane that Magellan are chasing growth and their doors are open to new members.