Essentials this week... | Tourism Australia fosters Air NZ partnership| International campaign highlights | Australia’s busin ess events | NAIDOC Week 2016 | Lates t ABS figures | and more...

Tourism Australia’s specialist unit, Business Events Australia, held an event in New Zealand last week, showcasing Australia’s business events capabilities and diversity to over 100 New Zealand incentive agents, corporate clients and media. Australian event agency, Belle Laide Events, created an interactive experience for guests, based on the theme of Best of Australia, highlighting culture and events, aquatic and coastal, nature and wildlife, luxury and indulgence, and food and wine. New Zealand is Australia’s biggest market for business events visitors. Read more.

In celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures during NAIDOC (National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee) Week 2016, Tourism Australia has created a new collection of Aboriginal tourism footage, available to view through Tourism Australia’s video gallery. The Aboriginal Collection content includes behind-the-scenes footage of Tourism Australia’s film Aboriginal Australia: Our Country is Waiting for You, as well as interviews with Indigenous Tourism Champions.

The latest arrivals data for the year ending May 2016 released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reveals a 9.6 per cent increase in international visitors to Australia, increasing to 7.78 million. For the month of May 2016, Australia welcomed 542,000 visitor arrivals, an increase of 11.4 per cent relative to the same period last year. Read more.

The SATC has launched a new video series titled Tourism Champions, featuring tourism operators and businesses around South Australia who are building the profile of tourism in the state. A series of case studies are available to watch on the SATC website, the most recent features Rawnsley Park Station in the Flinders Ranges.

Applications are now open for the world’s largest travel industry trade show, the Internationale Tourismus Börse (ITB). The event will take place in Berlin from 8 to 12 March 2017. Tourism Australia will have a dedicated Australia stand at ITB17 and encourages industry to participate as stand partners. To find out more visit Tourism Australia’s Industry Events. Applications close on Tuesday, 2 August 2016.

Industry are invited to attend TTG Incontri to be held in Rimini Fiera, Italy, from 13 to 15 October 2016. Attracting more than 60,000 visitors in 2015, this annual business-to-business international trade event brings together travel agents and tourism professionals from Italy and overseas. Tourism Australia will be coordinating an Australia stand at the event and invites industry to participate. Applications close on Tuesday 19 July. Find out more and apply.

According to research conducted by The Priceline Group, 54 per cent of American travellers desire a single, integrated application that covers planning, booking and ticketing across all forms of travel. The study also found that 59 per cent of respondents would reconsider a destination if it had a lack of mobile access or Wi-Fi. Millennials were found to embrace technology more than any other consumer type, with almost a half saying they would use a virtual reality headset to preview a travel destination. Furthermore, nine out of 10 millennials said they use mobile technology to book activities during a trip, as opposed to in advance. For more research and trends related to international and domestic tourism and travel, visit Tourism Australia’s Insight Files.