May
Get vaccinated so you can take a holiday, tourism industry urges
Just as the Gold Coast’s hotel and resort sector was picking up, Victoria’s lockdown hit – and the cancellations are now rolling in. It’s a timely reminder we all need to get the jab.
- Fiona Carruthers
Travel operators at risk of a second bleak winter
Victoria’s lockdown will be ‘devastating’ for tourism: Flight Centre’s Graham Turner says Queensland will be hit hard.
- Finbar O'Mallon
Open border justified by faster rollout, say tourist operators
Tourism operators said the government should bring forward its border reopening deadline after it was revealed COVID-19 jabs should be done by the end of this year.
- Mark Ludlow
Reward-cutting Qantas ‘must keep travel agents happy’
The airline is slicing commissions to agents. But they say the Flying Kangaroo could lose sales to rivals if other incentives do not compensate.
- Liam Walsh
Ramp up vaccine rollout or get left behind: airlines
Australia’s two biggest airlines say the coronavirus vaccine rollout has not been good enough, with Australia at risk of being left behind by the United States and Britain.
- Mark Ludlow and Jemima Whyte
Border-free Aussies jumping back into bookings: Webjet
Travel outfit Webjet says bookings for domestic flights have jumped back to 95 per cent of pre-COVID-19 levels.
- Liam Walsh
Australia can’t keep virus out forever: Hrdlicka
The Virgin Australia boss says the vaccinated community needs to learn to live with the disease, even though it might mean deaths.
- Liam Walsh
Counting the losses: local four cruise ships cater for just 306 guests
The nation’s only two Australian-flagged cruise lines are doing a booming trade, but foreign ships continue to fight to operate, arguing more ships would deliver millions of tourism dollars to port towns.
- Fiona Carruthers
Tourism industry to hold government to mid-2022 border reopening
The $50 billion industry said it was left empty-handed by the federal budget, but would hold the government to its mid-2022 border reopening as Qantas pushed back its international restart plans.
- Mark Ludlow, Lucas Baird, Liam Walsh and Fiona Carruthers
Thousands left with cancelled cruises as ships give up on Australia
Small luxury cruise lines are still trying to get their ships to Australia, but it’s a losing battle against the federal government – and customers are paying the price.
- Fiona Carruthers
Tourism operators want clear timeline for border reopening
Australia’s $50 billion tourism sector says more businesses are likely to fold up if international borders remain closed until the end of 2022.
- Mark Ludlow
‘Mission curse’ continues on Mayfair 101’s fantasy island
Two years ago, Mayfair touted plans for a $1.6 billion tourism mecca, but now offices are empty and property sellers are picking up the pieces following the investment outfit’s collapse.
- Updated
- Liam Walsh and Jonathan Shapiro
Bezos’ rocket company opens bidding for July space tourism trip
Blue Origin, billionaire Jeff Bezos’ rocket company, said it is targeting July 20 for its first suborbital sightseeing trip.
- Eric M. Johnson
April
Trans-Tasman travel sharpens appetite for second bubble
Leisure travellers going from Australia to New Zealand have led the bubble charge, leading tourism chiefs to call for a second bubble sooner not later.
- Updated
- Fiona Carruthers
Why the world wants to holiday here
Australia has come out on top in a March survey of 22,000 would-be international travellers, who view it as the safest spot to visit, with great nature to boot.
- Fiona Carruthers
Local business bookings taking off, says Corporate Travel
Despite the coronavirus lockdowns occasionally sapping confidence, the travel outfit is positive of longer-term trends.
- Liam Walsh
Trans-Tasman travel bubble to stay open after COVID-19 case
An Auckland airport worker has tested positive to COVID-19, but New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the trans-Tasman travel arrangement will stay open.
- Updated
- Mark Ludlow
Push to make frugal Kiwi tourists spend more as bubble opens
New Zealand visitors to Australia are notoriously tight, spending an average of $1826 each, but tourism operators are hoping to open their wallets under the trans-Tasman bubble.
- Mark Ludlow
NZ-born execs expect ‘party atmosphere’ on first bubble flight
As the countdown to the trans-Tasman bubble opening from April 19 begins, business leaders, tourists and family reunion travellers are dusting off their passports.
- Fiona Carruthers
The sectors set to suffer from vaccine shambles
Dropping the original goal to have all Australian adults vaccinated by October has whacked morale everywhere. Here is a sector-by-sector look at the flow-on effects for the broader economy.
- Fiona Carruthers, Finbar O'Mallon, Lucas Baird, Julie Hare and Sarah Turner
