Here’s all the latest destination news courtesy of your pals at Travel Weekly…

Macao to stage free festival in Sydney

Macao is gearing up to promote its attributes as a family-friendly holiday destination with a free open-air festival in Sydney this month.

The three-day festival – The Story of Macao – will take place at Chatswood Mall from Saturday 12 October until Monday 14 October, and will feature a large screen where attendees will have the chance to interact live.

The large outdoor screen will also feature vision of Macao’s history, heritage, food culture, events and festivals, along with its variety of resorts and hotels.

A family-friendly kids’ zone will be set aside featuring a roving magician and colourful face painting, and a star attraction will be Macao’s tourism mascot, Mak Mak – an animated version of the Asian centre’s black-faced spoonbill bird.

Macao’s mascot, Mak Mak.

Traditional Chinese lion dancing, a UNESCO World Heritage game area and a special photography zone will also be featured over the three days between 10am and 3pm, with plenty of spot prizes to be won.

Festivalgoers will also learn about Macao’s love of food and its inclusion on an elite list of UNESCO Creative Cities for Gastronomy.

Following the free festival, the Macao Government Tourism Office has organised a mouth-watering month-long Taste of Macao food festival at both the House of Tony Restaurant within the North Ryde RSL and the District 8 Restaurant within the Cabra-Vale Diggers Club.

Highly acclaimed Macao chef Palmira Pena will fly in as a guest to present special cooking presentations and tastings of Macanese cuisine during the festival from 14 October to 14 November.

Mona Foma and Tourism Tasmania to give away entire party plane as part of festival promotion

Mona Foma and Tourism Tasmania have just announced the biggest prize in Tasmanian festival history: they’re giving away an entire Air Mofo Boeing 737 to one winner, to fly to Launceston in Tasmania for the Mona Foma festival in January 2020.

To win the $99,000 prize, punters must find the purple and yellow Air Mofo party plane, hidden somewhere on Mona Foma’s online map of Tassie, at www.FindAirMofo.net.au. The first person to find the plane wins all 150 seats.

Clues to Air Mofo’s location can be found within the map, in festival ads and on the Mona Foma website, and participants can even subscribe for more clues. The ‘Find Air Mofo’ winner will be announced on 15 October.

Philippines taps local telco to help promote tourism industry

The Philippines has teamed up with local telecommunications provider Globe to help promote the country as a digitally savvy tourist destination.

The partnership includes a new campaign by Globe which showcases the generous hospitality of Filipinos and encourages tourists to visit the Philippines.

According to The Drum, Globe has also enhanced mobile coverage and improved connectivity for tourists and businesses in Siargo with the launch of three cell sites in Pilar, General Luna, and Dapa.

Sayak Airport in Del Carmen, Siargao has also been equipped with internet via Globe’s public WiFi service, GoWiFi.

The Drum reported that the telco has also established an ‘Ecobooth’ to help educate people on environmental conservation, with those who visit the hub able to exchange their plastic bags and bottles for and eco-friendly bag.

New program teaches WA tourism operators how to host Japanese visitors

With the launch of ANA’s direct flights from Perth to Tokyo last month, West Australian tourism operators now have a ‘MasterPath’ to success in the Japanese market with the launch of the inaugural Japan Host export program/

Developed in partnership with Japanese travel wholesalers, the five-module program is being offered by the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) together with Tourism WA and endorsed by Western Australian AHA.

More than 60 tourism operators from across the state will take part in a two-hour interactive workshop providing an overview of the Japanese inbound market and the opportunity it presents for the Western Australian tourism industry.

Northern Territory stars in Stellar

The Northern Territory’s refreshed brand positioning took a significant step forward on the weekend, with Darwin-born singer Jessica Mauboy appearing on the cover of a special NT-themed Stellar magazine published throughout News Corp Australia’s Sunday metropolitan mastheads.

In addition to the cover shot and accompanying story, Sunday’s Stellar edition featured an NT travel section, a fashion feature with product inclusions from NT designers, inclusion in a delicious. on Sunday cover story, plus a full-page colour advertisement and two-page advertorial.

Public relations activity and social media amplification will further promote the story with a special, behind-the-scenes video of the photo shoot to be released this week.

The cover story follows a national marketing campaign promoting the Northern Territory’s new brand positioning, with ‘Different in every sense’ replacing Tourism NT’s ‘Do the NT’ tagline.

Limestone Coast embarks on new digital platform for ‘Mixed Dozen’ Wine Trails

The unique wine experiences on offer across the Limestone Coast and south-west Victoria will soon be available at the touch of a button.

Alpaca, which was named Technology Provider of the Year at the Australian Travel Awards 2018, has been appointed to build an interactive online platform for the Limestone Coast ‘Mixed Dozen’ Wine Trails project to connect and build on the tourism offering across eight different wine regions.

The online platform is set to target international wine visitors in addition to the domestic market in a bid to bolster the global reputation of Australia’s food and wine, with a particular focus on the wine tourist markets of UK and the US.

The new digital planning tool will not only bring together multiple wine and tourism businesses and attractions, but encourage self-guided exploration through curated itineraries and inspiring stories.