Edition 109 · February 2017

Australia’s first LEGO store has opened on the Gold Coast, based at Dreamworld. The flagship store offers one of the largest ranges of LEGO in Australia and is a unique attraction employing 20 Brick Specialists to inspire Master Builders with five tonnes of LEGO pieces.

Further information:
https://www.dreamworld.com.au/things-to-do/lego

Panasonic is providing multi-lingual translation for many of Japan’s public spaces and tourist destinations using a megaphone capable of automatically translating Japanese into English, Chinese and Korean. Megahonyaku (megaphone translation) is hoped the new translation service can be used in places such as stations, airports and tourist destinations.

Further information:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLlEILlCrA4

Nikon Australia and Tourism New Zealand have launched a new global partnership to showcase Nikon’s KeyMission 360 camera and highlight New Zealand’s spectacular landscapes. This is the first time Nikon has partnered with a National Tourism Board to promote content that will appear across Tourism New Zealand and Nikon’s digital and social channels.

Further information:
https://mynikonlife.com.au/
http://www.newzealand.com/au/feature/pure-360/?rf=pure360

A province in Lao PDR and the city of Meishan in China are the winners of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) CEO Challenge 2016. The winners will work with partner TripAdvisor to develop and create digital marketing campaigns valued at US$500,000 each to showcase their destination to a global audience. It aims to promote and enhance tourism development of emerging destinations, regions, states, provinces, towns and cities in a sustainable manner.

Further information:
https://www.pata.org/about-pata/honours-and-awards/pata-ceo-challenge/

Tourism North East (Victoria, Australia) as launched a new website giving visitors to the region a one-stop-shop for all things cycling, covering road, mountain biking and recreational rail trails. The site provides detailed information for trip planning with suggested cycling routes, comprehensive trail mapping, cycle friendly accommodation options, transport providers, bike hire and cycle touring companies.

Further information:
http://www.ridehighcountry.com.au/

Some 19 European parks were awarded the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas, a practical management tool that enables protected areas to develop tourism sustainably through collaboration with relevant local stakeholders. Over the past 20 years, the Charter network has grown to include 157 destinations across 19 European countries.

Further information:
http://www.europarc.org/nature/european-charter-sustainable-tourism/

The Tasmanian Government is calling for Expressions of Interest from private investors and tourism operators to develop tourism opportunities in Tasmanian national parks, reserves and Crown land. The process aims to develop appropriate product and infrastructure to broaden the range of unique experiences on offer in Tasmania’s parks and reserves.

Further information:
http://www.cg.tas.gov.au/home/investment_ attraction/expressions_of_interest_in_tourism

The world-renowned Horizontal Falls in the Kimberley region is being protected with the creation of two new marine parks that will generate sustainable and high quality tourism opportunities. The new parks form part of the Great Kimberley Marine Park extending from Talbot Bay to the Northern Territory border covering approximately three million hectares.

Further information:
https://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/Barnett/2016/11/New-marine-park-at-Horizontal-Falls.aspx

Par is a new peer-to-peer mobile app connecting frequent flyers with travellers wanting a bargain ticket, allowing users to agree a fee for the air miles. It allows users to buy and sell airline miles from other users to book flights.

Further information:
http://www.getonpar.com/

Emirates Airlines has introduced new sustainable blankets made from 100% recycled plastic bottles in Economy Class on all long-haul flights. The environmentally friendly blankets which use 28 recycled plastic bottles each were designed in partnership with Buzz, the world’s leading in-flight product specialists and is the largest sustainable program in the airline industry.

Further information:
https://www.emirates.com/media-centre/emirates-introduces-sustainable-blankets-made-from-100-recycled-plastic-bottles

Munich Airport has announced plans to become Germany’s first carbon-neutral airport by reducing CO2 emissions directly attributable to the airport’s operations by 60 percent by 2030. The package of measures for achieving carbon neutrality at Munich Airport covers energy supply, efficiency improvements in building systems, vehicle fleet optimisation, exterior lighting and baggage transport system.

Further information:
https://www.munich-airport.com/climate-protection-264236

Bespoke travel experts Black Tomato have introduced a new service that allows customers to design their own custom pop-up in accommodation, location and amenities. Blink is an exclusive new travel service that offers the chance to design your own accommodation experience in locations where no one else will have stayed before or will again in the same way.

Further information:
https://www.blacktomato.com/blink/

AccorHotels is acquiring a stake in 25hours Hotels with the objective of accelerating these individual, design-oriented boutique hotels. There are currently eight hotels in Hamburg, Frankfurt, Berlin, Zurich and Vienna managed under the 25hours brand. A further five hotels are planned to open in the next two years in Zurich, Munich, Cologne, Düsseldorf and Paris.

Further information:
http://www.25hours-hotels.com/en/

Created in 2013 when two New South Wales South Coast landholders realised that all around them were beautiful places on private land that could be visited by the public, if only there was a way for travellers and property owners to connect. Youcamp allows landholders to gain an income from their environmental assets as people are seeking lovely forests, well run farms, resilient rivers and healthy lakes to visit.

Further information:
https://youcamp.com/

Lonely Planet has developed a range of new online resources for the traveller with a disability. The Accessible Travel Online Resources is the largest list of online resources for those wanting to start the travel planning process or learn about accessible tourism destinations and experiences from around the world.

Further information:
http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/world/accessible-travel-online-resources-2017/

The U.S. Wildlife Trafficking Alliance has launched a digital toolkit for travel companies in partnership with industry associations to raise awareness about the dangers of wildlife trafficking. The toolkit ‘Know Before You Go / Ask Before You Buy’ includes educational pamphlets, public service announcements and infographics that gives industry leaders a step-by-step guide for educating travellers about the potential pitfalls they can encounter while shopping overseas.

Further information:
http://uswta.org/buyinformed/

Intrepid Travel have launched a new range of Real Cycling Adventures that provide unique grassroots experiences in 17 destinations in some of the world’s top cycling regions. The new tour range will be fully carbon offset and begin departures in 2017, the UN Year of Sustainable Tourism. Proceeds from all Real Cycling Adventures booked will be donated to Bicycles for Humanity, which helps send unused bikes to impoverished communities in the developing world.

Further information:
http://www.intrepidtravel.com/theme/cycling

New research conducted by the Adventure Travel Trade Association, in conjunction with Michigan State University, reveals that adventure travellers are seeking transformative experiences, more than any other motivating factor. Additionally, they seek an expanded worldview, opportunities for learning and immersion in natural environments. Researchers sampled 1,017 subscribers of the Outside magazine to represent the views of adventure travellers based in the United States.

Further information:
http://www.adventuretravelnews.com/the-new-adventure-traveler

The latest addition of the Skift big travel Megatrends for 2017 and beyond has been released. The list of 15 megatrends cover various parts of the travel industry and are based on surveys, interviews and focus groups with leaders, operators and travellers throughout the year.

Further information:
https://skift.com/2017/01/12/the-megatrends-defining-travel-in-2017/

A new report from Expedia Media Solutions identifies trends and behaviours of American, British and Canadian consumers in the 45-day digital journey leading up to a travel purchase. The Traveller’s Path to Purchase that was undertaken by comScore found that travellers in the three countries share some behavioural similarities when it comes to travel planning.

Further information:
https://info.advertising.expedia.com/2016-travelers-path-to-purchase

The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2017 as the Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. The World Tourism and Travel Council’s Declaration outlines how the contribution of travel and tourism to sustainable development can be maximised through ensuring people can travel freely, businesses are supported by policies that allow sustainable growth and the sector operates in a responsible way.

Further information:
http://www.wttc.org/advocacy/declaration-for-the-international-year-of-sustainable-tourism-for-development-2017/

The Aboriginal Tourism Association of Canada will provide support for 18 Aboriginal tourism businesses as part of a strategic five-year plan to grow revenues, jobs, and businesses across the country. Successful applicants will use the Product Development Fund to improve websites, marketing assets, training front-line staff, increasing cultural knowledge and education, permitting and licensing support, as well as funding small capital projects.

Further information:
https://aboriginalcanada.ca/corporate/

Have you ever wondered what trails could do for your region or holiday destination? Do you currently have existing trails and want to know how to improve visitation or find out the economic benefit trails are providing? Would you like to connect with trails experts from across Australia and New Zealand? If you answered YES to any of these questions then attending the 2017 Sustainable Trails Conference is a MUST!

Further information:
http://www.trctourism.com/trails-conference or contact Donna Graf at donna@trctourism.com

The World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit 2017 will take place in Bangkok, Thailand from 26-27 April 2017. The annual summit brings over 900 delegates to discuss opportunities, challenges and issues facing the industry.

Further information:
https://www.wttc.org/summits/the-global-summit-2017/

The U.S. Travel Association’s inaugural Secure Tourism Summit will be held in New York on 19 April 2017. The summit is aimed at preparing organisations in the event of a security threat, situation or crisis. Attendees include sports venues, airports, convention centres, attractions, retail locations, destination-marketing organisations and accommodation.

Further information:
https://ww2.eventrebels.com/er/Registration/StepRegInfo.jsp?ActivityID=19363&StepNumber=1