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Australia

Queensland Tourism’s “Best Job in the World” campaign is back with Million Dollar Memo

by McLean Robbins on Mar 17, 2011

Tourism Queensland – the team behind the successful Best Job in the World campaign – today launched the Million Dollar Memo – a new campaign targeting the global incentive travel market by offering companies and workplaces around the world the opportunity to compete for AUD $1,000,000 worth of travel experiences to Queensland, Australia.

“Great companies are built by the great people within them, so we’d like to reward that hard work by giving one lucky company the chance to win the Ultimate Reward – AUD $1,000,000 worth of Queensland travel experiences for their staff,” said Tourism Queensland CEO Anthony Hayes.

“We’ve sent the Million Dollar Memo to thousands of companies and workplaces worldwide, inviting them to showcase their organization to a global audience by telling us why they are the best company in the world and why their employees deserve the AUD $1,000,000 worth of unique travel experiences to Queensland.

To be in the running, entrants need to create an entertaining 60 second video that shows what makes their company great and why they think Queensland is the ultimate reward destination. Video entries can be submitted at www.milliondollarmemo.com.

“It doesn’t matter if you work for a global sporting company, a software giant or a small-town bakery, if you have 3,000 employees or only three – the Million Dollar Memo is open to companies and workplaces around the world,” Hayes said.

The contest runs from March 18 to May 1 and consists of three phases; a Top 50 short-list, a Final 20 list and an Incentive Challenge Event which will see a representative of the final 20 companies traveling to Queensland to compete in person. People will vote for five of the top 50 contenders in a “People’s Choice” category, while the remaining 45 will be chosen by Tourism Queensland.

From the Top 50 short-list, website visitors will vote again for three “wild cards” within the Top 20. Tourism Queensland will select a further 17 entries for the Final 20 list, which will be announced on 6 July.

Those companies fortunate enough to make it to the Final 20 list will get to send a representative to Queensland for an Incentive Challenge Event which will be held in unique locations throughout the state starting on August 23.

The winner will be announced on August 31 and will enjoy the AUD $1,000,000 grand prize of Queensland incentive travel experiences.

Top 20 travel destinations – The 2011 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report

by Justin Delaney on Mar 10, 2011

Every couple of years, the World Economic Forum crunches a bunch of numbers and releases a list of the top countries in the world to visit. While ranking 139 countries, they measure aspects such as pricing, culture, environmental protection, safety, and infrastructure. For the 2011 report, Switzerland remained at the number one spot – the returning champion from the last report in 2009. Nine out of the bottom ten countries are located in Africa, and seven out of the top ten are located in Europe. Chad ranked in at 139 out of 139. Italy, one of the most visited countries in the world, placed 27th. For the full list, download the PDF at the World Economic Forum website under the ‘reports’ tab.

20. Norway
19. New Zealand
18. Portugal
17. Finland
16. Denmark
15. Luxembourg
14. Netherlands
13. Australia
12. Hong Kong
11. Iceland
10. Singapore9. Canada
8. Spain
7. United Kingdom
6. United States
5. Sweden
4. Austria
3. France
2. Germany
1. Switzerland

flickr image via jeffwilcox

Celebrity Cruises to Australia with new generation ship

by Chris Owen on Mar 10, 2011

Celebrity Cruises is heading to the land down under in a big way in the 2012-2013 season with one of its newest generation ships. Nearly-new 122,000 ton Celebrity Solstice will sail in Austraila and New Zealand waters starting in the summer of 2012 in a move that signals great confidence in the Austraila cruise market.

“Celebrity Solstice has satisfied guests around the world since we introduced her in 2008, and the obvious next step is to send her to Australia,” said Dan Hanrahan, President and CEO, Celebrity Cruises. “With this move, we are delivering another way for people to have the best vacation experience possible, in one of the most stunning geographic regions of the world.”2850-passenger Celebrity Solstice will sail from Sydney in New South Wales, Fremantle in Western Australia and Auckland in New Zealand, with cruises ranging from 12 to 18 nights in length.

At 63m high, Solstice is too tall to fit under the Sydney Harbour Bridge so it will miss stopping at the new terminal at White Bay and instead berth at the Overseas Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay.

“Travelers around the world value their vacation time, and we want to give them more opportunities to enjoy Celebrity’s signature attributes, including the first Lawn Club and Hot Glass show at sea, more spacious staterooms, our AquaClass staterooms geared toward the spa enthusiast lifestyle, multiple specialty restaurants, the Celebrity iLounge and state-of-the-art entertainment, in more places. The culture and way of life in Australia and New Zealand are an ideal backdrop for our Solstice Class style and the overall onboard experience.”

Full details will be available on March 23, when bookings for Celebrity’s new 2012-13 Australia/New Zealand itineraries will open for sale. Bookings for the 1,814-guest Celebrity Century’s 2011-12 Australia/New Zealand cruises are open now.

Flickr photo by jemmingway

Duty free rules, know before you go

by Chris Owen on Mar 9, 2011

Duty Free. It sounds like such a good idea. Duty Free shops and zones in airports and other places common to travelers beckon us to save money . Quick and convenient, we find savings of up to 50 percent just after passing through security on the way to our plane, train or ship. But buyer beware, you may not make it to your final destination with that great deal.

Duty free shop personnel often lack import knowledge for destinations other than their own. They can get you going from where you are, but often laws of other lands will prevent bringing your duty-free items in.

Australian Customs, for example, has a section on duty-free in its ”Know Before You Go” guide for travelers that states: ”If you are aged 18 years or over, you can bring 2.25 litres of alcohol duty-free into Australia with you” – without mentioning that it is subject to regulations about liquids and must be purchased or carried according to strict rules reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

Travelers commonly find out the hard way that security rules concerning liquids vary from country to country. Some require bottles to be in tamper-proof packaging, others don’t. If where you buy and your final destination include a stop in a third country, even a short layover, your duty free purchase could be confiscated.

It’s a good idea to know before you go and online source dutyfree.com tells us “Duty-free rules vary by country, with policies ranging from simple and flexible to complex and rigid. To learn about a country’s duty-free laws, try contacting its customs or border patrol agency. Or, call a travel agency, duty-free shop or airline located in that country.”

Virgin Blue flight attendant puts baby in overhead bin

by Meg Nesterov on Mar 8, 2011

A Virgin Blue flight attendant has been fired after putting a 17-month-old baby in an overhead compartment as part of a peek-a-boo joke. Passenger Natalie Williamson was on a flight from Fiji to Sydney with her husband and son when the flight attendant put the baby into the overhead bin and locked it for 10 seconds.

“I stood up and there were people laughing and then I said ‘Get my son out of there now’,” she told Australia’s Sunday Herald Sun.

Virgin Blue admits that the incident happened but claims Williamson’s husband had been playing peek-a-boo with the overhead bin when the flight attendant joined in. The airline has offered apologies as well as three free flights, but the mother claims she and her child are too traumatized to redeem them, and her son still suffers from anxiety and withdrawal three months after the incident.

[Photo courtesy Flickr user David McKelvey]

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