On the runway . . .

WORK will begin this month on the expansion of Adelaide Airport’s main terminal in South Australia. The expansion will significantly improve the arrivals and departures experience for international passengers and create more retail and dining options for domestic and international travellers. 

The overall terminal footprint will be increased by 16,500sq m with the retail area growing by more than 80 per cent to 7257sq m. Due for completion in 2021, the project is the largest upgrade at the airport since the existing terminal was opened in 2005. 

Carriers offering international services in and out of Adelaide include China Southern Airlines, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Air New Zealand.

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Top 10 digital detox destinations

WELLNESS tourism is a growing trend where travelers are seeking health and spirituality on their trips. According to the Global Wellness Institute, international and domestic wellness tourism accounted for $563 billion in 2015, up 14 percent from 2013, and is expected to grow to $808 billion by 2020. The trend continues, with 25 percent of travelers saying they plan to take a wellness trip in the next 12 months, according to a recent poll of TripAdvisor's global Facebook community.

Top 10 Global Destinations for a Digital Detox:

1   Bali, Indonesia
2   Rishikesh, India
3   Sedona, Arizona, U.S.
4   Hepburn Springs, Australia
5   Ko Samui, Thailand
6   Costa Rica
7   Goa, India
8   Zermatt, Switzerland
9   Maldives
10 Ibiza, Spain

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Shorter travel adventure

THE Global Scavenger Hunt, the world’s only real-life around-the-world travel adventure competition, is launching a new shorter version of its amazing annual international travel adventure, the 2018 fall trip is called The Global Scavenger Hunt WEST.

The 2018 fall adventure will maintain all the unique elements of the larger global event—travelers will visit secret destinations, they will partake in culturally immersive interactive local site-doing scavenger hunts, and it will be a competition—but the will be limited in time and geography: taking place over 14-days, instead of 23-days; and visiting four secret countries on a single continent, rather than circling the globe to ten nations.

The inaugural Global Scavenger Hunt WEST adventure will begin October 13th (at a to-be-determined North American gateway city) ending two-weeks, four or five countries later, on October 27th. In between, Amazing Race wannabe’s will achieve travel nirvana visiting mysterious destination gems, uncovering cryptic clues, carrying out secret missions, hunting down masterpieces, sampling extraordinary cuisines, using pre-industrial modes of transport, and happily facing life-enriching challenges. 

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International arrivals numbers surge in Indonesia

HEAD of Indonesia's National Statistics Board, Suharyanto, on 1 August confirmed that international arrivals to #Indonesia for Semester I (January through June 2017) has surged 22.4% reaching a total of 6.48 million visitors, up from the 5.29 million in 2016 year on year.

As for arrivals in June, this has jumped 31.6% reaching 1.13 million visitors, compared to 857,650 visitors in June 2016.

This impressive increase in arrivals is in no small measure due to the excellently coordinated and rapid development of new airports in major tourist destinations, expansion of runways, as at Labuan Bajo's Komodo airport and the Silangit airport by Lake Toba in North Sumatra.

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Athens Airport Sees Healthy Passenger Traffic Growth in May

#ATHENS International Airport (AIA) served four percent more passengers in May to 1.87 million, compared to the same month last year.

International passengers enjoyed robust rise of 7.3 percent, whereas domestic passengers were below 2016 levels. 

Greek residents presented an overall growth at the level of 12 percent, while foreign residents presented an overall slight drop of one percent. 

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Smoother Connections

QANTAS customers are set to benefit from smoother connections and improved facilities at #Perth #Airport with construction to begin on a new integrated domestic and international passenger hub.

A new international wing, will be located within the existing T3/T4 area. It will feature a large outdoor deck with alfresco seating, a streamlined immigration and customs area to enable a faster transfer experience, additional food and beverage outlets and a new Duty Free store.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said all of the airline’s domestic flights, as well as services to Singapore, Auckland and London, would operate from the new facility.

“Perth will become the western hub for our international services to the United Kingdom and potentially other European destinations in the future,” Mr Joyce said.

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India sees double-digit growth in international tourism

INDIA'S ‘Premier Partner’ status with World Travel Market London last year has led to double-digit growth in international tourism and a bumper number of business deals.

The Premier Partnership status gave India a greatly enhanced profile at WTM London 2016, as the country’s tourism board highlighted its diverse attractions to the world’s key source markets and international media.

#India become WTM London’s headline partner to promote its increased airline services and $300 million worth of investment in tourism infrastructure over the past 18 months. It was looking to agree deals with almost 10,000 senior buyers at WTM London to help attract more than 13 million annual visitors by 2020 – up from nine million in 2016.

WTM London facilitates £2.8 billion in industry business deals from almost one million business meetings, not including the speed networking events and meetings held at pre-appointment sessions such as ILTM at WTM.

Neela Lad, deputy director general at India’s tourism ministry, hailed the Premier Partnership as a “great success”.

“We believe that the huge exposure India achieved during the campaign has led to the 16% year-on-year increase of international visitors into India during January 2017,” she said.

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Britain gears up for Chinese New Year

JANUARY 27 marks the start of Chinese New Year - the Year of the Rooster - and visitors to Britain will be able to join the celebrations taking place throughout all of Britain's nations and regions.

London's celebrations are some of the biggest outside of Asia with a colourful parade starting in central London's Chinatown and ending at a main stage in Trafalgar Square.

Manchester will put on a Dragon Parade, led by a spectacular 50-foot dragon, ending in Chinatown which will be filled with traditional Chinese entertainment, more than 6,000 lanterns, street food villages and a fireworks finale. 

Additionally, this year will also see the acclaimed international art exhibition ‘Lanterns of the Terracotta Warriors’ held in Manchester for the celebrations.

Significant celebrations will also be taking place in Birmingham, Cumbria, Edinburgh, the Isle of Wight, Leeds and Liverpool among others.

VisitBritain Director Patricia Yates said:

“China is the world’s largest outbound market and a huge tourism opportunity for Britain. Chinese New Year is traditionally one of the busiest travel times for Chinese travellers and with Britain offering great value right now, we want to make sure the UK is at the top of their list as a must-go now destination."

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Picture Credit: thefost 24687645@N00/3248129952 Dragon Kick! via /photopin, Jori Samonen 111390057@N08/31040512276 The Lanterns of Terracotta Warriors via photopin.

Doris & Edward Bair arrive at Heathrow

Following the hugely successful Christmas film which celebrates the gift of coming home, Doris and Edward #Bair arrived at #Heathrow on the December 20 to be greeted by their family, during the airport’s biggest week for emotional #Christmas reunions.

The bears travelled from Munich to Heathrow on a British Airways flight into Terminal 5 to be met by warm hugs and smiling faces in arrivals. Doris and Edward have been hand crafted through the creative magic of the Steiff team in Germany. At around 40cm tall, the couple have been lovingly recreated from the film with Doris wearing her distinctive orange coat and Edward presenting handsomely in his favourite tweed flat cap.

The Bair’s film debut which captured the magic of an airport reunion, has been celebrated the world over this Christmas with the heart-warming couple winning fans right across Heathrow’s route network and as far away as Japan and Australia.

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Picture Credit: Terminal5insider flickr.com/photos/22819720@N02/2306823601 Heathrow Terminal 5 - Arrivals via photopin

World Tourism reaches 956 million international travellers

#DESTINATIONS around the world welcomed 956 million international tourists between January and September 2016, according to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. This is 34 million more than in the same period of 2015, a 4% increase.

Demand for international tourism remained robust in the first nine months of 2016, though growing at a somewhat more moderate pace. After a strong start of the year, growth was slower in the second quarter of 2016 to pick up again in the third quarter of the year. While most destinations report encouraging results, others continue to struggle with the impact of negative events, either in their country or in their region.

“Tourism is one of the most resilient and fastest-growing economic sectors but it is also very sensitive to risks, both actual and perceived. ” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai.

“No destination is immune to risks. We need to increase cooperation in addressing these global threats, namely those related to safety and security. And we need to make tourism an integral part of emergency planning and response”, added Mr. Rifai ahead of the Ministerial Meeting on Safe, Secure and Seamless Travel to be held at the #WorldTravelMarket in London on 9 November.

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Picture Credit: AjayGoel2011 flickr.com/photos/62789663@N08/27548835574 City Lights |Explore via photopin.com

New Zealand passes 3 million visitors mark

THE number of overseas visitors to #NewZealand passed the three million mark for the first time in the year ending July, driven by a surge in arrivals from China and Australia.

The government’s statistics agency said the number of visitors was up by seven percent year-on-year to a record 3,002,982. They spent a total of NZ$8.7 billion (£3.7 billion), up by 28 percent on the previous 12 months.

#Tourism was directly responsible for 94,100 jobs within the industry and supported a further 72,700.

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/99771506@N00/8218869374">southern alps</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)

Record number of pensioners using travel websites

WELL-OFF UK pensioners made 35 million visits to travel websites in the past year, driving record growth, according to Experian’s Hitwise tool.

The number of visits to travel sites rose to 920 million in May, up from 906 million in the same month last year. This suggested that over-65s are becoming better off, e technologically aware, and keen to #travel.

San Francisco tops the ten more desired destinations so-called #silversurfers wish to visit, followed by France, mainland Spain, Ireland, Tenerife, Majorca, New York, Dubai, and Amsterdam.

Giles Longhurst, general manager, consumer insights, at Experian Marketing Services, said: ‘It’s interesting to see that those in the retired bracket are playing such a significant role in boosting online activity in the travel sector.

‘Silver surfers are defying stereotypes about those in later life using the internet and technology. They are also likely to be taking advantage of their extra disposable income. Having paid off their mortgages and downsized their homes, many over 65s are taking advantage of the added freedom they have found and are enjoying a very active retirement – including plenty of overseas travel.’

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9106303@N05/5379885034">The Village Blogger, after Albert Anker</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)

Budget transatlantic service coming to Gatwick

CANADIAN budget carrier WestJet is to start low fare transatlantic flights from Gatwick. Details of the Canadian destinations to be served and frequency will be provided later in the summer, but flights are planned to start in spring 2016.

WestJet already operates from Dublin and started flying from Glasgow to Halifax, Nova Scotia last month for £238.

The airline will join Norwegian in providing low fare, long haul services from Gatwick.

WestJet executive vice president, commercial, Bob Cummings, said: "This news marks the next phase in the international portion of our strategic plan. Combined with our low-cost approach and people-driven service, we have the network, brand, and infrastructure to successfully enter and grow in the wide-body market. Wide-body capability now allows us to serve London Gatwick from anywhere in Canada and brings into consideration more international destinations in the future.’

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/40838054@N00/218542940">westjet-06</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)