Aerial photo contest aims to capture Australia’s unique beauty

Tourism Australia is sponsoring a new competition to inspire aerial photographers from around the world to share, enjoy and experience new creative perspectives of Australia. The Australia From Above contest is being run by SkyPixel, the world’s most popular aerial photography community, and is co-sponsored by Tourism Australia and drone manufacturer DJI. The contest is open from 2 March to 2 May and welcomes professionals and enthusiasts alike to share their visions of the country. Over 1,000 submissions have already been received and Tourism Australia has published a Facebook album featuring highlights so far.

Spotlight on Australian wine

Some of the world’s best sommeliers will visit Australia this April to experience the exceptional quality and diversity of Australian wine and attend The World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards in Melbourne on 5 April. Alongside the best chefs in the world they will be immersed in Australia’s renowned food and wine culture during the 10 day visit.

Restaurant Australia case study video: Pialligo Estate

Tourism Australia is producing a series of videos showcasing tourism businesses from around the country who have successfully included a food and wine component to their offer. The aim of the videos is to inspire more businesses to get involved in Restaurant Australia as food and wine continues to become an ever more important aspect of the experience our visitors are looking for. The first video released showcases Pialligo Estate Farmhouse, a food, wine and lifestyle destination on the banks of Canberra’s Molonglo River. The Estate incorporates an olive grove, vineyard, orchard, academy, market garden, the award winning Pialligo Smokehouse, two restaurant and events space.

Logo available to celebrate China Australia Year of Tourism

Australian tourism events and businesses are being encouraged to participate in this year’s China Australia Year of Tourism by co-branding their product with the Year of Tourism logo. The logo can be downloaded from Tourism Australia’s online image gallery and be used for events and by businesses that: have established links to the Chinese outbound tourism market; promote diversity, growth and innovation in the Australia-China tourism relationship; promote Australian arts, creative industries and sporting events to the China travel market or to Chinese tourists in Australia.

Two day Daintree Dreaming tour at Cape Tribulation

Adventure North Australia is offering a new two day cultural journey from coast to rainforest. Journeying from Cooya Beach, into the Mossman Gorge and staying overnight in Cape Tribulation, guests will experience the natural beauty and ancient culture of the Kuku Yalanji Rainforest people of Tropical North Queensland.

Heston Blumenthal wins 50 Best Lifetime Achievement Award

Chef Heston Blumenthal of Dinner By Heston in Melbourne has been awarded The 2017 Diners Club Lifetime Achievement Award. The prestigious honour is part of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards, which will take place on April 5th at the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne, Australia.

Adelaide Festival, 3-19 March

From 3-19 March 2017, Adelaide Festival celebrates creative culture in all its shapes, sizes and voices, with internationally acclaimed theatre productions, an eclectic array of world-class musicians, breathtaking dance pieces, renowned writers and striking visual arts displays.

Everglades Kayak Tours, Noosa

Kanu Kapers run one day or multi day kayaking tours in the Noosa Everglades, one of just two Everglades in the world. It’s a place of serene natural beauty, with more than 44% of Australia’s bird life and 1,365 species of plants. Family owned and passionately operated by a former Australian kayak champion, Kanu Kapers use top of the range locally handcrafted sea kayaks for maximum cruising pleasure.

Destination Australia Conference 2017

Tourism Australia’s Destination Australia Conference has received an incredible response and has almost sold out. The conference features top speakers from leading organisations including Skift, Facebook, Google, Mastercard and more. DestAus17 will be held on Thursday 16 March 2017 in Sydney. Further details are available at www.tourism.australia.com/DestAus17.

Indonesia Australia Business Week

Australia’s Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, The Hon Steven Ciobo MP, is leading a major trade mission to Indonesia for Indonesia-Australia Business Week. The 120-strong Australian business delegation participated in a program of 57 events across five cities including Jakarta, Surabaya, Bali and Lombok. The program aims to highlight opportunities in vocational education and training, tourism, financial services and technology, water and sustainable urban design and agribusiness supply chains.

Accessible tourism webinar

Tourism Australia is hosting a free webinar on accessible tourism on Friday 31 March at 3pm AEDST. The webinar will outline the opportunities for destinations and businesses to improve the quality of the visitor experience for disabled people. Speakers will be: Simon Darcy, Professor of Events, Sport and Tourism, UTS Business School; Chris Veitch, Accessible Tourism Consultant; Jane Kelly, Marketing and Business Development Manager, Sandcastle Waterpark; and Bill Forrester, Co-Founder of Travability.travel. Find out more and register. (Photo: Parks Victoria)

The growing importance of digital travel content

Travellers are seeking an increasing amount of digital travel content and the trend is expected to continue according to an Expedia commissioned study with comScore. In the US travellers interacting with digital travel content increased a 41% and the UK grew at 44%. For more research and trends related to international and domestic tourism and travel, visit Tourism Australia’s Insight Files.

Tourism Australia has published a guide to submitting content, such as story ideas or travel itineraries, to its popular consumer web site Australia.com.

Queensland's Whitsundays region has been selected to be part of the national Regional Tourism Infrastructure Investment Attraction Strategy.

Jin Air's seasonal Seoul to Cairns service delivered a $9 million boost and almost 6,000 Korean visitors to Tropical North Queensland between mid December 2016 and early February 2017.

Accommodation rating scheme Star Ratings Australia will close from 30 June.

The headquarters of the NSW’s six new tourism Destination Networks will soon be decided with expressions of interest being called from local councils across rural and regional NSW.

Perth has been announced as the host city for the 2017 Qantas Australian Tourism Awards.

The Tourism WA Facebook community has grown to 556,000 followers with many from the State's key international markets including the UK, USA, Singapore and New Zealand.

The Margaret River Busselton Tourism Association has released a region-wide nature based tourism strategy.

Regional NSW environment and tourist attractions will benefit from a new $300 million fund.

Tourism Tasmania's Go Behind the Scenery IX marketing campaign commenced Sunday 26 February in Melbourne, Sydney and South East Queensland and will run until 9 April 2017.

The 2017 Tasmanian Tourism Conference will be held in Launceston on Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 May.

Tourism Noosa has announced details of its inaugural Tourism Summit 2017 to be held in Noosa on Friday 21 April 2017.