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Industry - Title
Tourism Talk Edition 235
NEW LIGHTHOUSE REPORT
Tourism Tasmania has produced the second edition of the Lighthouse Report. In this edition we explore opportunities for growth in our overseas markets.
The international market currently represents about 14 per cent of our overall business. Tourism Tasmania believes that at the current rate of growth, the international visitor market could be accounting for as much as 20 per cent of all visitors to our State in just five years.
Put in context, more than five million international visitors came to Australia last financial year. Our share was around 157,000 people, or just three per cent. However, we actually grew our numbers by nine percent on the previous financial year.
Can you afford not to share in a piece of this growth?
It’s time to ask yourself “Am I ready for this?” If not, “What do I need to do to get ready”?
Visit the Tourism Tasmania corporate website to download a copy of the edition.
A WEEKEND OF BIG SPORTS EVENTS FOR TASMANIA
All eyes were on Tasmania over the weekend as the State hosted a trilogy of major sporting events and saw the start of a fourth – the week-long Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge.
The action kicked off in Hobart on Friday with the international test cricket with the second match between Australia and Sri Lanka. It’s only the second time Australia have played Sri Lanka in a test match in Hobart – the first, in 1989, was also the first ever test match at Bellerive Oval. Fabulous weather over the weekend has seen tens of thousands of spectators flock to Bellerive to watch the Aussies take a very strong winning position.
Friday also saw the start of the Falken Tasmanian V8 Supercar Championships at Symmons Plains, one of just three Australian rounds of the V8 series. The three-day event drew almost 60,000 spectators with more than 3,000 of these travelling from interstate.
The V8 Supercars Championship is televised to 850 million people in 130 countries, including millions within Australia.
V8 Supercars drivers Cameron McConville and Paul Dumbrell are among the stellar line-up of sports stars joining Australia’s only Formula 1 racer on the 600-kilometre Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge that got underway on Saturday.
National and international media are following the Challenge teams, including celebrity racers Michael Klim, James Tomkins, Tatiana Grigorieva and Craig Mottram, as they kayak, abseil, cycle and run their way across Tasmania.
A number of corporate teams are also competing in the Challenge, which last year raised over $500,000 for Australian children’s charities. This year Mark has nominated the Save the Tasmanian Devil Appeal, the Leukaemia Foundation and charities selected by the Mark Webber Challenge Foundation.
The Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge concludes on Friday 23 November, with competitors crossing the finish line at Salamanca Place from 1.00pm.
Sunday saw the 13th running of the Hazell Bros Point to Pinnacle – a 21-kilometre foot race from Wrest Point Hotel to the summit of Mount Wellington. Tasmanians Mark Guy and Hanny Alston took out the male and female titles respectively, in a field of 1,200 participants.
HONOURS FOR HOTEL STALWARTS
Two of the State’s most prominent hotel industry figures have been honoured at the Australian Hotels Association (Tasmanian Branch) Awards.
Premier Paul Lennon acknowledged the work of Tim Bond, a leading player in the Tasmanian hotel industry for more than 20 years, at a function in Hobart last week.
Presenting the Premier’s Award for Contribution to the Community, Mr Lennon said Mr Bond was widely known and loved for his outgoing and inclusive style.
“As an owner and manager of hotels both in regional areas and in Hobart and Launceston, Tim Bond has also made outstanding contributions to charities, sporting clubs and the general community,” the Premier said.
The Minister for Tourism, Arts and the Environment, Paula Wriedt, honoured industry stalwart Lloyd Clark with the Minister’s Award for Contribution to the Industry.
Mr Clark has owned the Innkeepers Collection since 1992 and has held numerous positions, including Chair of the Tasmanian Visitor Corporation and Chair of the Tasmania Convention and Visitors Bureau. He is currently a Tourism Industry Council Tasmania board member.
The Premier also presented three special recognition awards to businesses for having achieved national success: Marque IV was acknowledged for winning the Restaurant and Catering national category for Best Modern Australian Restaurant; Tall Timbers Hotel Motel recently won the Australian Hotels Association’s national category of Best Mid-Range Accommodation; and Country Club Tasmania was recognised by the AHA’s national category for Best Gaming Venue.
All the AHA (Tasmanian Branch) winners:
Bertie Tucceri Award: Phil Capon
Best Seafood Restaurant: Angasi Restaurant
Best Asian Restaurant : Me Wah Restaurant Hobart
Outstanding Community Service and Achievement: The Old Woolstore Apartment Hotel
Best Outdoor Area: Waterfront Hotel
Best Cellar Safety: Country Club Tasmania
Café Award: Angasi Restaurant
Best Modern Australian Restaurant: Angasi Restaurant (highly commended: The Source @ Moorilla)
Responsible Service of Alcohol: The Old Woolstore Apartment Hotel (highly commended: Claremont Hotel & Wrest Point Casino)
Responsible Service of Gaming: The Waterfront Hotel (highly commended: Claremont Hotel)
Best Gaming Venue: Rocherlea Tavern
Best Country Hotel: Nubeena Tavern
Best Country Hotel: Spring Bay Hotel
New Establishment Award: Restaurant 373
New Establishment Award: Curly's Bar
Best Counter Meal/Bistro Meal AHA: Stanley Hotel
Best Budget/Pub Style Accomm (-2.5 Star): Claremont Hotel
Best Mid-Range Accomm (3-3.5 Star): Customs House Hotel
Best Superior Accomm (4 Star +): The Islington Hotel
Best Bar Presentation and Service: Peppermint Bay
Best Bar Presentation and Service: The Henry Jones Art Hotel
Best Retail Outlet (Bottle shop): Kings Meadows Hotel
Best Employee Food & Beverage: Craig Scott, Henry Jones Art Hotel
Best Employee Gaming: Sarah O'Keefe, Claremont Hotel
Best Employee Front Office: Jacob Smith, Henry Jones Art Hotel
Best Employee Kitchen: Nicholas Eadie, Lenna of Hobart (highly commended: Patrick Weekes & Michelle Pinner)
Best Restaurant in a Hotel/Tavern: The Henry Jones Art Hotel (highly commended: Peppermint Bay & Tavern 42 Degrees South)
Kool Fuel Kids Dining Menu: Tall Timbers Hotel Motel (highly commended: Hotel Federal)
Best Training Initiative: The Old Woolstore Apartment Hotel
Best Informal/Family Dining RCA: Tavern 42 Degrees South (highly commended: Fish 349)
Best European Restaurant: Restaurant 373
Fine Dining Award: The Terrace, Country Club Tasmania (highly commended: Marque IV)
TOTE Initiative Award: Derwent Tavern
Best Entertainment Venue: Country Club Tasmania
Best Sporting Entertainment Venue: TRC Hotel
Best Redeveloped Venue: Tarraleah Highland Village
Best Marketed Establishment: Tall Timbers Hotel Motel
Best Overall Restaurant: Me Wah Restaurant Hobart
Best Overall Hotel: The Old Woolstore Apartment Hotel
THE AUSTRALIAN’S TRAVEL & TOURISM AWARDS
The Lodge at Tarraleah, the Bay of Fires Walk and Stillwater Restaurant and The Mill Providore are the Tasmanian winners in The Australian newspaper’s Travel & Tourism Awards 2007.
The annual awards were announced at a gala dinner on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast on Friday night. The Lodge at Tarraleah won Best Lodge Accommodation, making it a trifecta of wins for Tasmanian lodge accommodation - Freycinet Lodge won the award in 2005 and 2006.
Bay of Fires Walk was awarded Best Eco/Wilderness Experience ahead of a stellar line-up, including Tasmania’s Maria Island Walk.
Launceston’s Stillwater Restaurant and The Mill Providore took out the Best Food Experience Award, with the judges noting it was “a must for any foodie visiting the island state”.
Each year the Awards also recognise the “best of the best” - those tourism and travel operators and experiences that have won successive awards in their category. This year, Tasmania’s Freycinet Lodge joined the Winners’ Circle inductees for its 2005 and 2006 wins in the Best Lodge Accommodation category.
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM UPDATE
Tasmania’s International Symposium is just a week away. Joining the line-up of Australia’s top international marketing practitioners presenting from 27-28 November, is Tourism Northern Territory Chairman and Tourism Australia board member, Grant Hunt.
Mr Hunt was the creator and driving force behind one of Australia’s leading tourism and travel brands, Voyages Hotels and Resorts, and became an industry pioneer in the area of corporate social responsibility and sustainable business practices. He was named one of the Tourism Industry’s Top 20 Innovators by Travel + Leisure magazine in 2006.
The International Symposium is a first for Tasmania - a move to break down the barriers to operating in the international market and to provide opportunities to network with key industry figures.
For agendas, speaker profiles and registration details, visit Tourism Tasmania’s corporate web site.
SAVE THE DEVIL A WINNING MESSAGE
A group of primary school children from NSW were treated to a three-day trip to Tasmania earlier this month for their winning entry in the nationwide Westfield ‘Shop for Your School’ - Save the Tasmanian Devil program.
St Mary and St Mina’s Coptic Orthodox College students Merna Gabriel, Mina Bassilious, Andro Bottros, and Mark Iskandar were joined by their teachers, Lillian Wassef and Bernadette Lee McGinty, on a Tourism Tasmania supported visit to State. The year six students beat entries from 371 other schools across the country with their creative poster that raised awareness of the plight of the Tasmanian devil.
Tourism Tasmania hosted a luncheon for the children as they prepared to leave the State on Wednesday, having had the chance to meet real-life Tasmanian devils at Trowunna Wildlife Park at Mole Creek.
The children presented Tourism Tasmania’s Head of National Markets and Creative Services, Maria Pate, with a replica of their winning poster and explained what they had learnt about the iconic Tasmanian marsupial including the interesting fact about why devils are always photographed with their mouths open: because they yawn when they are scared!
The children were also given the opportunity to meet with 9-year-old devil enthusiast Nic Bonnitcha, also known as Nature Nic, and Warwick Brennan from the Department of Primary Industry and Water’s Save the Tasmanian Devil Program.
GOLDEN BACKPACKS FOR TASMANIA
The Picked Frog Hostel, Republic Bar & Café and Under Down Under Tours are the 2007 winners of the annual TNT Magazine Golden Backpack Awards.
The Awards, announced in Sydney on 7 November, are voted by readers of TNT Magazine in conjunction with the Adventure & Backpacker Industry Conference.
Hobart’s The Pickled Frog won Best Hostel in Tasmania, with Central City Backpackers highly commended in the category.
The Best Experience in Tasmania was awarded to Under Down Under Tours, which incorporates the hugely popular Mount Wellington Descent. Conservation Volunteers Australia’s Tasmanian Program was highly commended.
Hobart’s iconic Republic Bar & Café was voted by readers as the Best Bar in the State, with Irish Murphy’s Hobart highly commended.
TNT Magazine is the market-leading publisher of backpacker titles and the Golden Backpacks are Australia and New Zealand’s only dedicated awards for the independent travel sector.
More than 3,500 readers’ votes were cast and the winners announced at a gala dinner on 7 November hosted by television travel personality Laura Csortan.
TIGERTOUR UPDATE
Tourism Tasmania’s TigerTOUR database feeds information about tourism product directly into the consumer website discovertasmania.com.
Here’s a summary of recent additions to the TigerTOUR databse as well as those operators that have been removed. Tourism Tasmania’s Product Consultants can assist you updating your business details, email: TigerTOUR@tourism.tas.gov.au or phone: (03) 6230 8229.
New tourism product added to TigerTOUR
Accommodation:
- Boat Harbour Beach Belle Vue Waters
- The River House
- The Waratah Lodge B & B
Hire:
- Aussie Dollar Campervan Rentals - Tasmania
Attraction:
- Cornwall Collectables
- Goaty Hill Wines
- The Quiet Cone Latrobe
Tours:
- Eye See Personalised Tours
- Mountain Bike Tasmania
- Apple Isle Wine Tours
- Hobart Yellow Water Cab
Recently closed tourism product in TigerTOUR
- Getabout Oz
- Pasminco Hobart
- Hiba (Accommodation)
- Cape View Guest House Bed & Breakfast
- St Matthias Vineyard
- Argyle Guest House
- Ryans Minicar Rentals
- Maple Cottage
- Hiba (Attraction)