Fill your calendar with all the latest industry events and catch up on the latest trade shows and famils right here.

Hear what’s new for AAT Kings in 2023/2024 with brochure release webinars

AAT Kings Earth Sanctuary Alice Springs NT

Agents are invited to join AAT Kings for a series of ‘What’s New’ product webinars, which will cover what’s new for the 2023/24 season, plus a Q&A session on all things AAT Kings.

There are three sessions to choose from:

• Mon 12th Sept 2pm (AEST)
• Tuesday 13th Sept 12pm (AEST)
• Wednesday 14th Sept 10.30am (AEST)

Celebrity Cruises announces agent roadshow

Celebrity Cruises is inviting travel advisors to experience ‘A Taste of Luxury’ through their upcoming roadshow events.

The series will be held at luxury venues across Australia in September, before heading to New Zealand in October.

Guests will be treated to exclusive insights into the design, culinary and destination experiences that make Celebrity’s ships unlike anything else at sea, plus presentations by the expert Celebrity Cruises team highlighting the brand’s unique itineraries across Europe, Alaska, Asia and more.

Agents will also hear directly from Tim Jones, vice president and managing director of Celebrity Cruises in Australia, New Zealand and APAC, and have the chance to win incredible prizes at each event.

Become a Nevada specialist and win a spot on a famil

Travel Nevada is encouraging agents to learn about all the quirky and quaint experiences the Silver State offers, via a new Travel Nevada Specialist Program.

The program provides agents with the tools to best promote, match and sell Nevada products to their clients.

Plus, agents who complete the program will go into a draw to win Nevada FAM opportunities, and the first 50 agents to complete the badge will receive a special gift from the headquarter office in Carson City.

Silversea celebrates ambassador Steve McCurry at Australian premiere of McCurry: the pursuit of colour

Silversea celebrated its collaboration with renowned photographer Steve McCurry in Australia last week hosting intimate screenings in Melbourne and Sydney of the feature-length documentary by award-winning filmmaker Denis Delestrac, McCurry: The Pursuit of Color.

Delestrac’s documentary unveils an intimate portrayal of the celebrated photojournalist and his global voyages with Silversea to Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, and Bhutan, among others.

A post-screening Q&A with Steve McCurry was hosted by respected Australian journalist Jenny Brockie (Insight, SBS and Four Corners, ABC). Brockie offered insight into Steve’s peripatetic life and defining forty-year career.

Additional screenings will be held nationwide over the next month. Silversea invites trade partners, travel agents and Venetian Society members to share in the authentic experience of McCurry: the Pursuit of Color.

Screenings of McCurry: the Pursuit of Color will also be showcased in the upcoming 2024/2025 Voyages Collection schedules.

That’s a wrap on Aloha Down Under 2022 

Hawai’i Tourism Oceania (HTO) has completed its annual roadshow Aloha Down Under in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne from 22 to 25 August 2022, with the final event in Auckland last Monday 29 August.

Along with hundreds of travel advisors, HTO celebrated the 10th anniversary of the popular Hawai’i roadshow that connects partners from the Hawaiian Islands with the travel ʻohana (family) Down Under.

Attendees had the chance to network, enjoy live entertainment from the talented Hawaiian duo Kuki and Nick Navales, receive all the latest destination updates, try Hawaiian-inspired cuisine and had multiple opportunities to win exciting holiday prizes to the Hawaiian Islands!

The Barossa Australia & Grapevine, Texas host VIP event

Grapevine, Texas culminated its week-long in-market trade mission out in Barossa with a day-long series of events at The Barossa Cellar.

The day began with a VIP group of Adelaide-based retailers from Phil Hoffman Travel, Flight Centre, Helloworld, MTA and Travel Managers arriving at The Barossa Cellar and being treated to an update and Cellar tour by CEO of Barossa Australia, James March.

They were then treated to a VIP wine tasting by Baron of Barossa and head winemaker at Yalumba, Louisa Rose, including a selection of Barossa Wines. A “Barossa Rib with Texas wine” lunch followed where Heather introduced Sagrantino Reserva brought all the way from Grapevine, Texas to pair with lunch which is produced by Messina Hof Winery from the oldest plantings in Texas.

Solomons Islands is ‘Good To Go’ in Australia

Tourism Solomons head of sales & marketing, Fiona Teama, Tourism Solomons Australia/NZ industry marketing representative, Richard Skewes, Solomon Airlines’ national sales manager, Raquel Oliveira; Tourism Solomons acting CEO, Dagnal Dereveke, and Tourism Solomons PR consultant, Mike Parker-Brown.

After more than 800 days cut off from the rest of the world, a senior Tourism Solomons team has hit the ground running in Sydney and Brisbane, aiming to reinstate the destination’s presence and relationships on the Australian travel industry scene as quickly as possible.

Led by Tourism Solomon’s Acting CEO, head of corporate service, Dagnal Dereveke and head of sales & marketing, Fiona Teama, the team held meetings with key travel partners in both cities, with a very clear message – it’s business as usual for the Solomon Islands tourism sector and the destination is good to go.

While in Sydney, the team including Solomon Airlines’ National Sales Manager, Raquel Oliveira, hosted 20 key travel and specialist media to lunch at the Café del Mar in Darling Harbour.

The NITA class of 2022 celebrates at Ayers Rock Resort

Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia held a ceremony at Ayers Rock Resort on Friday 2 September to recognise 13 students graduating from the National Indigenous Training Academy (NITA) 2022 class.

NITA was established to provide young Indigenous Australians with career prospects in retail, horticulture, hospitality and tourism at Voyages properties – Ayers Rock Resort and Mossman Gorge Cultural Centre in Qld – as well as wider employment opportunities with other organisations.

This year’s event brings the total number of graduates to 623 since the program’s inception in 2011.

Out of 13 students graduating four received Certificate III in Rural Operations and nine received Certificate III in Hospitality.

PTM’s enjoy a week of wildlife and wellbeing aboard Holland America

TravelManagers’ Sarah Knoll

Eight personal travel managers (PTMs) participated in a recent series of seven-night self-famils to Canada and Alaska with Holland America Line.

The famils resulted from a promotion run by Holland America several months ago and were enthusiastically taken up by the PTMs. For some, it was their first visit to the perennially popular destination, while for others it was an opportunity to become reacquainted with an old favourite.

Sarah Knoll, who is TravelManagers’ representative for Mount Evelyn, VIC, said she was surprised by how much she loved the cruise holiday experience, finding it much more fun than she expected.

“A cruise holiday is so easy compared to other styles of travel, and I would have no hesitation in recommending Holland America Line to my clients as I know they will have a wonderful experience and be well looked after. The crew are incredibly friendly, funny and attentive, the ship was lovely, and the itinerary was great.”

MTA shows off luxury knowledge with ILTM turnout

MTA – Mobile Travel Agents had twenty-five Luxury Travel Advisors attend ILTM Asia Pacific held at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore from 5-8 Sep, the first time the event had been held since 2019.

The ILTM attendees heard insights on traveller spending and luxe market trends.

Don Beattie – CEO of MTA, said it demonstrated MTA’s commitment to the luxury travel sector and the depth of expertise that our advisors have within the sector.

Virtuoso Agents Say Si to Wellbeing in Los Cabos

(Left to right (back): Lena Nielson, Eirini Hatzellis (front): Jacqui Cameron, Vanitha Sinnathamby, Paola Zevallos, Donna Phillips) enjoying a luxury sailing cruise by the Arch

Five Virtuoso agents recently arrived in Los Cabos to experience the Mexican paradise where the desert meets the sea.

The famil took place after Virtuoso Travel Week Las Vegas, where Los Cabos Tourism won the 2022 Best Tourism Board Award.

The group spent six nights in some of the destinations’ most luxurious properties such as Chileno Bay, Auberge Resorts Collection, Zadun, A Ritz-Carlton Reserve and Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal.

They also enjoyed an array of iconic activities that draw on the destinations’ rich natural landscapes and adventurous culture. From a luxury sailing tour alongside the famous El Arco – the Arch with Cabo Adventures to spa treatments at Chileno Bay Resort, Zadun, A Ritz-Carlton Reserve and Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal, a tour of Todos Santos, and more.

Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve returns to Australia

Andrea Morgan (Adventure World), Melyne Hovasapian (South African Tourism), Jacques Smit (Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve), Jodi Dean (The Africa Safari Co), Sarah Hoyland (Classic Safari Company), Julie De Palo (Bench Africa), Leanne Ward (The Classic Safari Co), Alisa Feillafe

Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve returned to Australia last week to reconnect with the travel industry and media to assure consumers that they are ready to welcome Australian travellers back to their luxury lodges in the South African bush.

Sabi Sabi reopened with strict covid protocols and a new onsite medical team in August 2020 and has been safely hosting guests from around the world who have been travelling since the end of 2020.

To encourage guests to make the get the most of their time on safari Sabi Sabi are extending their pay 3 and stay for 4-night offer across all lodges until December 2023.

Featured image: Vanitha Sinnathamby (Out and About Travel), Eirini Hatzellis (Savenio), Donna Phillips (Donna Phillips Travel, Frontier Travel), Paola Zevallos (Gate 7), Lena Nielson (Smartflyer), and Jacqui Cameron (MTA) at the Rooftop bar at The Cape, A Thompson Hotel on Virtuoso’s Los Cabos famil