The road show is Adventurous by Nature

TTNQ’s Adventurous by Nature European Road Show will kick off in Paris June 27 and travel on to Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and the UK – winding up in London on July 8. For full dates and cities, see below.

Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park, Australia’s leading indigenous cultural experience, is one of participants, offering a day experience (Tjapukai by Day) that is interactive, educational and fun and an evening experience (Tjapukai by Night). Tjapukai by Night is a cultural theatrical dinner and show, which takes visitors into Dreamtime legend to discover ancient Aboriginal culture.  http://www.tjapukai.com.au/

Ocean Spirit is another top product on the TTNQ Road Show, promoting its catamaran adventure to Michaelmas Cay on the Great Barrier Reef, a picturesque reef sand island surrounded by coral gardens that teem with a diversity of marine life. Spend a day snorkelling or scuba diving, riding the semi-submersible, taking a nature tour and enjoy a superb buffet lunch with sparkling wine.   

Poseidon and Sailaway are family owned and operated businesses based in Port Douglas have been operating reef and island excursions since 1980. The owners are diving, snorkelling and sailing professionals and are extremely experienced eco tourism operators and environmental leaders. Poseidon offers a five star cruise to the Agincourt Ribbon Reefs and caters to snorkellers, certified divers and introductory divers, offering 3 dives each day.  

Sailaway offers a premium reef and island experience to the Great Barrier Reef’s unspoilt Low Isles -- relax on white sandy beaches, snorkel over magnificent coral gardens from the beach and swim with turtles. The new Sailaway Sunset Sailing itinerary sails every evening, offering the perfect ambience before enjoying many of the great local restaurants in Port Douglas.

Multi-award winning Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours take visitors flying through the Daintree Rainforest on flying fox ziplines, stopping at five tree platforms with spectacular views over the treetops, down to cascading streams and out to the reef. Fun, educational, all weather and fully guided, Jungle Surfing is an eco-adventure for all ages.  

Cayman Villas and Meridian will be along to highlight two perfectly located properties in Port Douglas close to Four Mile Beach, the restaurants on Macrossan Street and the Marina, where the boats depart for the Great Barrier Reef. 

Meanwhile, family owned Thala Beach Lodge, is a five star eco resort near Port Douglas, sitting atop a headland with breathtaking views of untouched coastline, Accommodation comes in the shape of 83 deluxe timber bungalows built high on stilts in a forest canopy and providing views either to the ocean or the forested mountains.

Mission Beach will also be along on the Road Show – 14 kilometres of pristine golden beaches nestled between two World Heritage areas, the spectacular Wet Tropics Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. Mission Beach offers as much to the adrenaline junkie and extreme sports enthusiast as to the holidaymaker after some peace and quiet. From wilds of skydiving and white water rafting to relaxing spa treatments. 

Castaways Resort & Spa is a stunning Mission Beach beachfront gem. The newly refurbished property was remarkably unscathed by Cyclone Yasi earlier this year and boasts a variety of stylish accommodation options, two swimming pools, day spa, restaurant and cocktail bar.  

Dates and cities: Paris June 27; Milan June 28; Zurich June 29; Munich June 30; Kitzbuhel July 2; Berlin July 4;Dusseldorf July 5; Amsterdam July 6; Manchester July 7; London July 8.

To register for the Road Show go here,  or email Sunny Mocanu at The Conjoint Marketing Group

2011 European Road Show for TTNQ

The TTNQ UK/European Mission 2011 will be touring Europe from June 27 to July 8. The dates and the cities the Adventurous by Nature Road Show will visit are:

Paris June 27,

Milan June 28,

Zurich June 29,

Munich June 30,

Kitzbuhel July 2

Berlin July 4,

Dusseldorf July 5,

Amsterdam July 6,

Manchester July 7,

London July 8,

For more information, email Sunny Mocanu at The Conjoint Marketing Group.

A successful ATE 2011 in Sydney

Team TCMG's Rhett and James concluded more than 250 appointments at this year's Australian Tourism Exchange in Sydney and spent much time catching up with Australian clients and top level buyers from around Europe. It was Rhett's twenty-second ATE, and the fourth for James.

Team TCMG also staged a successful clients' party during the week-long event and then took post-ATE fam trips to Tropical North Queensland to update key European product managers on Mission Beach (Castaways and Elandra) and Lizard Island -- with some great feedback from the participants.

A honeymoon focus at BIT for our clients

BIT 2011 in Milan was very successful for The Conjoint Marketing Group. It was attended by James Wilson and Lars Schubert. The TCMG team were only at the show for the trade days -- but the consumer days at the weekend were pumping from beginning to end.

The honeymoon market makes up a massive portion of the current arrival figures. It is certainly the mainstay of the Italian market to Australia, at this time. This is crucial for most of TCMG’s clients, especially Delaware North’s luxury islands, Lizard and Heron, and their unique getaway, Wilson Island, a tiny coral cay on the Great Barrier Reef. The honeymoon market and visitors demanding top range properties was the main focus at BIT also for Mirvac Hotels and Resorts.

Due to the fact that the honeymoon market is so strong, the average spend of the Italian visitor is very high: while the international average is AUD 3,700, the Italian spend is no less than AUD 6,600.

Most Italian operators are cautiously optimistic about the year ahead. They say the strong Australian dollar is the biggest problem.

A few operators stated their turnover for 2011 to date was up 20-25 per cent. However, with the Australian dollar making a holiday to Australia between 10-17 per cent more expensive for the Italians than last year (the figure varied between operators) it is understandable why turnover is up. But at least it doesn’t seem to be putting off potential Italian visitors, say local operators.

As for competition, this year it appears that Fiji is looking increasingly attractive to some Italian operators. They say it is significantly cheaper now and offers a ‘similar’ beach/island/reef experience to Australia. Fiji has become more accessible with Qantas, whose rates from Italy are no more expensive than flying to Queensland.

This does present a small concern and our strong message to the Italian long-haul travel industry is that while Fiji does offer sun, island, beach and a unique culture, it does not offer the Great Barrier Reef, a big ‘must’ on most Italians shopping list when it comes to travelling Down Under.

The news of refurbishments at Lizard and Heron island resorts (complete on Lizard and about to start on Heron), along with commitments to maintain competitive rates for 2011/12 season, went down well with Italian trade visitors to BIT. -- especially given the news that some other resort islands on the Great Barrier Reef are still closed for business due to cyclone damage.

Seen in our photo is Lars with Marta Bormioli from Scirocco Tours.

Vakantiebeurs: feedback from the Netherlands

The Australia area at the annual Vakantiebeurs in Utrecht this month, which is the largest travel industry trade fair in the Benelux, was as busy as ever.  While final official attendance figures have not yet been released by the organisers, it would be fair to say the numbers were similar to those of 2010 – which accounted for 18,000 trade visitors and 120,000 consumers.

Vakantiebeurs 2011 gave TCMG and other Australian exhibitors the opportunity to reinforce the message that most of Queensland, including Tropical North Queensland,  had escaped the flooding -- which was going on during the show -- and was open for business, and that much of the flooded region will be back in the picture quite soon.

TCMG’s James Wilson and Lars Schubert were on the Tourism Australia-coordinated stand at the show, which gave them ample opportunities to promote clients such as Mirvac Hotels & Resorts, Delaware North Parks and Resorts and Castaways and Elandra Mission Beach to the Dutch and Belgian trade visitors; and also gauge Dutch and Belgian trends for the coming year. The show also gave TCMG the chance to catch up with some of the TA-trained Dutch Aussie Specialists. There are more than 350 Aussie Specialist agents in the Netherlands, of which half are fully qualified.

Feedback from key local operators, Aussie Specialists and consumers indicated that in 2011, many Dutch visitors would be returning to Australia for the third or fourth time and venturing to parts of Australia far off the beaten track – good signs for the more remote regions of Tropical North Queensland and places like Western Australia’s Kimberley region where TCMG client, El Questro is located. It was also evident that Dutch visitors were again planning for incredibly long lengths of stay while in Australia.

“Operators naturally showed some concern about the strength of the Aussie dollar, but pointed out that Dutch travellers wanting to go to Australia have been planning for some time,” says James Wilson, adding: “My feeling from chatting to people is that they will still go.”  At year-ending September 2010, there were 49,000 Dutch arrivals in Australia.