For the Culture Vulture

CULTURE Attractions of Australia will provide a single point of contact for travellers, trade partners and media to access premium, behind-the-scenes cultural experiences in iconic locations. 

As a collective, its strength lies in the diversity and iconic nature of the sites and collections represented, as well as the direct connection they hold with the people and cultures of #Australia. 

The founding members of Cultural Attractions of Australia are Adelaide Oval, Arts Centre Melbourne, Australian War Memorial, WA Maritime Museum, Fremantle Prison, Melbourne Cricket Ground, MONA, National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Opera Australia, Parliament House, Port Arthur Historic Site, Qantas Founders Museum Longreach, Sovereign Hill and Sydney Opera House. 

Each of these institutions has developed one or more rare, premium experiences, ensuring unrivalled access and attention for their guests who can expect the unexpected.  

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Baobab studded camp set to open in 2020

MASHATU Game Reserve’s portfolio of camps is expanding with the introduction of Mashatu Euphorbia. Mashatu Euphorbia is the new 5-star camp, situated in this privately owned, baobab-studded reserve in #Botswana. 

This “green” camp combines luxury with conservation and sustainability, where solar energy and state of the art water processing systems ensure a harmonious blend with the African bush. Set high up on a cliff face amongst a forest of euphorbia succulents which open up to reveal exquisite vistas of the Majale River and endless plains below.

Mashatu Euphorbia will begin welcoming guests from June 2020, but reservations are now open mashatu.com 

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Time to shine again for Christmas Island

CHRISTMAS Island’s tourism industry finally has the opportunity to shine again. This week, the island’s Immigration Detention Centre (IDC), which opened its doors in 2008, will scale back to ‘hot contingency’ status, which means it will be closed to detainees, and only operational should the need arise. 

Tourism operators on the tropical island, located 2600 kilometres north-west of Perth, hope this change in status of the centre means the spotlight can once again be shone on the island’s extraordinary natural wonders. “Our industry has had to endure many challenges during the past ten years,” reports Lisa Preston, Chair of the Christmas Island Tourism Association, adding “it’s great to be able to finally start getting our positive messages out into our markets”. Earlier this week, the tropical island celebrated its 60th anniversary as an Australian Territory.

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Splash into Summer Down Under

VICTORIA'S biggest water theme park is ready to bring EPIC to your summer. Adventure Park Geelong, #Australia will open its doors to the public for the season on Saturday 27 October 2018. If you were one of the few who didn’t get out to Geelong to experience the epic new Tornado last year, this is the year to see what everyone has been talking about and brave the Tornado, Victoria’s biggest and only Proslide Tornado waterslide. 

Hugely popular as it launched in November 2017, the Tornado waterslide is a heart stopping, adrenaline pumping thrill ride that got everyone talking in 2017-18. It’s put Adventure Park Geelong on the map, and at just over an hour’s drive from Melbourne on the beautiful Bellarine Peninsula at the start of the Great Ocean Road, makes it the ultimate destination for families in summer.

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All eyes on Milan

THE eyes of every fashion and style expert on the planet will soon turn to Milan as the city celebrates Fashion Week 2018 (Wednesday 19th to Tuesday 25th September).

As the countdown to this ostentatious annual event continues, the city's most famous pan-Asian restaurant is putting the finishing touches to a new menu. KOWA's new collection of dishes is every bit as stylish as the 1.6 million beautiful people who will soon descend on the city in celebration of fashion and design.

Spanning both Chinese and Japanese cuisines and including sashimi, dim-sum, uramata and robaki, this sleek new set of dishes also includes a greater range of vegetarian choices, in line with requests from diners.

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Aurora Adventure

THE enchanting aurora borealis conjures images of dancing night skies, sub-zero temperatures and mountainous landscapes blanketed in snow, like glistening vanilla ice-cream. In Canada’s north-west #Yukon Territory, you don’t need to wait until winter to experience this light show spectacular. As one of the few locations on Earth where the northern lights are visible from late summer all the way through to spring, you may not even need a jacket as you gaze up at Mother Nature’s best artwork. 

Head to Yukon’s scenic Southern Lakes Region during the autumn months of late August and September, and combine two of nature’s most colourful marvels. With autumn in full swing, the Southern Lakes Region transforms from lush green to rich crimson, orange, and sparkling gold, the ultimate backdrop for wildlife viewing. Keep the camera poised for grizzly bears, elk and mountain sheep along the way, stroll the shores of Bennett Lake, following the footsteps of the Klondike gold stampeders who blazed a torturous trail on their way to Dawson more than 120 years ago. 

As night falls, the autumnal glory makes way for spellbinding auroras splashed across the sky in a mind-blowing kaleidoscope of vibrant jades, reds, yellows, and purples. Check into a wilderness lodge, such as the luxurious Inn on the Lake, the Boreale Ranch at the base of the Seven Sisters mountain range, or Southern Lakes Resort overlooking placid Tagish Lake. Autumn evenings in the Southern Lakes Region are relatively mild, allowing for active night time adventures. Meander along the hiking trails to a secluded spot to capture the very best aurora photographs. 

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Picture Credit: By Anthony DeLorenzo from Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada - Aurora Borealis, CC BY 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org

New arrival at Sydney Zoo

WILD Life Sydney Zoo is delighted to announce the debut of its newest arrival, a male koala joey who emerged from his mother’s pouch for the first time earlier this week. Now the search is on for a koala-ty name for the little bub! The unnamed koala joey was welcomed into the world in October last year and is the son of Bruce and Kyara, and the sibling of Kikki who was born in the last breeding season.

To celebrate the new arrival with all of #Australia, Wild Life Sydney Zoo are on the hunt for the perfect name that encapsulates their newest arrival’s eager and bubbly personality, and are calling on the public for help. There’s only one condition – in line with the attraction’s naming traditions, his name has to start with the letter ‘B’ after his father!

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World Expeditions expands Africa offerings

WORLD Expeditions’ has expanded its #Africa range of trips, launching 16 new itineraries, including family trips, alternative routes on Mt Kilimanjaro as well as treks in Uganda, Morocco and Ethiopia, a new trip taking in two Ethiopian cultural festivals and exciting new combinations of walking, cycling and wildlife safaris.

World Expeditions has a long history having pioneered the first commercial treks of Mount Kilimanjaro‘s Remote Northern Circuit and Shira Routes, while keeping the choices diverse with the Lemosho, Machame and the Rongai routes also on offfer. 

Interest in mountain trekking has expanded from just Kilimanjaro to include Mount Kenya, new trekking routes in Uganda’s Mountains of the Moon – the Rwenzoris, Morocco’s High Atlas and the Simien Mountains of Ethiopia.

Two new family trips – the South Africa Pilanesberg Family Safari and the Eastern Cape Family Safari are designed specifically for adventurous families, with shorter transfers and plenty of opportunities for big game spotting.

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Wellington is a winner

DEUTSCH Bank’s most recent Liveable City Index has named New Zealand’s cool little capital #Wellington number one for the second year in a row! The Deutsche Bank Liveable City Index, ranks world cities in categories such as safety in the city, health care, cost of living, pollution and climate. Wellington has topped the table against bigger and arguably better-known cities including Zurich (2nd), Copenhagen (3rd), Edinburgh (4th) and Vienna (5th).

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Industry News . . .

THE Solomon Islands tourism industry have seen collective visitor arrivals for Q1 2018 up 29 per cent over the same period in 2017. Figures released by the #SolomonIslands National Statistics Office (SINSO) show international visitation increased from 4881 to 6296 with January, February and March all showing positive growth.

Australian visitor arrivals continued to dominate representing 34.8 per cent of all international visitation. A strong New Zealand result saw an 18.3 per cent increase, in the process firmly cementing the country in place as the second largest source of visitation. Papua New Guinea and the US maintained their third and fourth positions.
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Vietnamese government issue first casino license in 10 years

A casino within the beach-golf resort which is in close proximity to 3 UNESCO Heritage Sites provides a unique culture, sporting and entertainment destination experience that will further boost tourism for the Thua Thien Hue region and attract global travellers. Laguna Lăng Cô is part of a chain of integrated resorts created and managed by Banyan Tree under the Laguna brand, and includes Laguna Bintan in Indonesia and the flagship Laguna Phuket in Thailand.

This is the first casino license to be issued by the Vietnamese government in the past ten years. Laguna Lăng Cô welcomes worldclass casino operators and investment partners to join in the next exciting phase and growth of its integrated resort development in Central Vietnam.

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