thUMBRELLA

Registration for the World Youth and Student Travel Conference (WYSTC) in Beijing opens this Wednesday.   

The conference, which takes place in China for the first time, runs from October 17 to 20 and includes trade, networking, seminars and association meetings across the three-and-a-half day schedule.

The Earlybird rate, which ends May 19, for non-WYSE Travel Confederation members is €$1,475 and €980 for members.

Full price following the earlybird deadline is €1,590 for non-members and €1,095 for members.

To book or for more information visit the WYSTC website.

Sundownder Holidays and Vee Dub Experience are collaborating to offer visitors to New South Wales a three day self-drive package on the north coast of the state.  

The Sundowners Kombi Camping Package includes three days Kombi hire ex Sydney, one night camping at Sundowner Tiona Tourist Park in Pacific Palms and Sundowner Breakwall Tourist Park in Port Macquarie, two breakfasts, three lunches, two dinners, surf lessons, jet boating and kayaking.

The package is priced at $315 per person for a minimum of four travellers.

For more details, click here.

News in Sydney’s media of a young Scottish tourist who had been bashed by a group of youths in Sydney this week got me thinking, is violence in Australia towards foreigners worse than anywhere else or is it just because we’re here that we hear about it?  

Recent news of attacks on Indian students in Melbourne, fatally and critically attacked Irishmen in Coogee, a disabled Canadian bashed with the pole from his own wheelchair and now a Scottish man forced to undergo brain surgery after getting bashed in Sydney has all been at the forefront of Australian media in only the last few months but I delved a little further to see if this news was travelling beyond our shores.

There’s no denying that once something is published online it’s pretty much accessible to the entire world but I conducted an experiment on Google last night seeing what happened when I typed “tourist bashed” into its global search engine, Google.com.

I was shocked to find that out of the 11 stories on the first page of the global Google search, ten were related to tourists being attacked in Australia, the other was in New Zealand. So I searched again with “tourist attacked”. The result, four out of nine. What about “backpacker attacked?” A whopping six out of seven news stories were related to Australian assaults on backpackers.

I assume Tourism Australia’s new campaign involving contributions from Australians will include a cross-section of racial backgrounds but is this enough to demonstrate Australia as a country with a cultural understanding? How can Tourism Australia’s new campaign combat Google’s search results?

As a kid – and still to some extent now – I perceive(d) the US as somewhere I would like to visit but somewhere I would be more concerned about my safety then perhaps if I travelled to the UK or Europe. I attribute this to the ‘bang, bang, shoot-em-up’ genre of films and TV shows that is dominated by the US that I watched growing up and so perhaps my concerns may be unfairly influenced.

Nevertheless, despite the lack of such films coming out of Australia what concerns me is the real stories of student and tourist bashings having a negative impact on future backpackers to this country. I don’t want my country to be perceived by the British version of me as “somewhere to think about safety” and perhaps choose an alternative destination because “I don’t want to spend my whole time worrying.” Perhaps I’m just paranoid but do we want to risk losing the business of those who just might share that same paranoia?

I realise the realists will simply say, “Nowhere is safe anymore and you have to be vigilant wherever you go” but Tourism Australia needs to act to ensure we aren’t perceived like the USA is perceived by some. It’s one thing to show off our magnificent coastline and spectacular outback but TA must reassure travellers there’s not pole-wielding thugs hiding in the bushes waiting to pounce.

A group of four youths aged between 13 and 15 have been charged with the assault of a 25-year-old Scottish working holiday maker in Sydney earlier this week.

Scottish tourist Mark Willis and his girlfriend Jane McLean got off a bus at Rockdale station in Sydney’s southern suburbs at 3:30am on Wednesday morning where Willis was reportedly punched in the head causing him to fall and hit his head on the footpath.

“There was a verbal exchange between the two parties and shortly after there was a physical fight between Mark and the four males,” NSW Police detective superintendent Helen Begg said.

Willis had to undergo emergency brain surgery following the attack and remains in a stable condition.

The youths have been charged with offences ranging from assault occasioning grievous bodily harm and affray.

Sydney Harbour YHA and the Big Dig Education Centre at The Rocks was officially opened by Governor General Quentin Bryce this morning.  

Following the property’s soft launch in November Her Excellency, who is also the patron of YHA, officially opened the accommodation and it’s preserved archaeology site, the Big Dig Education Centre in front of a gathering of architects and builders involved with the project as well as YHA staff and members of the backpacker industry.

“It’s a fantastic project, development and achievement producing tangible benefits for the people of Sydney, international visitors, domestic visitors, education, environmental sustainability and our home,” she said.

CEO of YHA Ltd Julian Ledger added the property had exceeded its original budget but he was optimistic the money would be made back. “The bad news is we’ve spent more money dollar-wise than the Harbour Bridge. The good news is, we’re going to make it back faster,” Ledger said.

Mid-way through last month YHA welcomed its 10,000th guest to the property.

The 354-bed hostel has three accommodation options which are twin rooms, four shares and six shares, each with its own bathroom.

(L-R) Chairman of Sydney Harbour Foreshore Austhority (SHFA) Michael Collins, YHA Ltd’s Julian Ledger, Her Excellency The Governor General Ms Quentin Bryce and YHA Ltd's Helen Harms.

If, as expected, British prime minister Gordon Brown goes to Buckingham Palace later today and asks the Queen to dissolve parliament, there will be a general election in the UK on Thursday May 6.  

With opinion polls suggesting it could be the most closely fought contest in a generation, there are already signs the campaign will degenerate into a slanging match with all the major parties slinging as much mud at each other as possible.

And in doing so, they will almost certainly further alienate young voters whose interest in mainstream politics has been in decline for some time.

Remember, this is a nation which believes in its citizens’ democratic right not to vote.

So, if you’re a marketer aiming to attract young Brits to Australia, you could do worse than use the next four weeks to remind them there is an alternative to listening to a bunch of pompous, puffed up middle-aged men and women hurling insults at each other.

What better time to tell young people to vote with their feet and head Down Under?

Last Thursday, we reported the backpacking industry was up in arms after health officials banned bars from serving jager bombs as they promote alcohol abuse and sexually promiscuous behaviour among young people.  

However, keen-eyed visitors will have noted the date on the story – April 1 – and that Polly Fordasia, allegedly from the World Health Organisation’s Campaign for Less Alcoholism and Promiscuity (CLAP), is, in fact, an anagram of April Fool’s Day.

Some people fell for it  hook, line and sinker of course, but Dr Thumbo’s too much of a gentleman to say who.

Topdeck is offering a 25% discount off the second passenger’s fare for all Australia and New Zealand bookings made in April.  

The ‘Take a mate and save 25%’ offer is valid for all new bookings for two people travelling together made before April 30, 2010 for travel until March 31, 2011.

Topdeck offers six trips throughout New Zealand and 12 itineraries in Australia, ranging from its four-day west coast of Tasmania tour to a 25-day ‘Grand Aussie’ package.

For more information or to request Topdeck’s new 2011 Australia and New Zealand brochure, call 1300 886 332 or visit topdeck.travel.

Backpacker businesses along the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef face a nervous wait to see whether oil leaking from a stricken chinese coal ship will have a damaging effect on the reef.  

The Shen Neng 1 ran aground 70km off the east coast of Great keppel Island on Saturday. According to reports, it is leaking oil and could break apart, raising fears of serious environmental damage.

Aircraft flying over the ship reported patches of oil were visible up to 4km from the ship. Queensland premier Anna Bligh said local emergency crews were on standby to clean any oil that reached mainland beaches.

It will not be known for several days whether the spill is large enough to have a damaging effect on the reef.

Tourism Australia’s new “There’s nothing like Australia” campaign fell victim to a spate of “brandjackings” and April Fool’s Day jokes last week, according to reports.  

On Thursday (April 1), media and marketing magazine B&T Today reported Tourism New Zealand had set up Facebook, Twitter and Flikr accounts with the tagline “Nothing like Australia… Welcome to New Zealand”.

According to B&T, the Facebook page wished Australia good luck with the campaign “love from your friendly neighbours, New Zealand”. It has since been taken down and the stunt is now being described as an April Fool’s Day joke.

Meanwhile, an unknown individual has set up www.nothinglikeaustralia.net, with mock ads spoofing the new tagline. TA is considering legal action according to some reports.

Elsehwhere, Thumbrella reports Positively Wellington Tourism has unveiled a new TV commercial as part of a $2m multimedia campaign targeting Australian tourists with the tagline “There’s No Place Like Wellington”. Although the campaign has long been in the making, the timing of its release is unfortunate for TA.

Last month I faced a classic publishing dilemma. When stories surfaced in the national press that a harvest work contractor in Bundaberg had allegedly sacked backpackers after they asked for water, my colleagues on the Backpacker Tourism Advisory Panel urged me to publish a story in TNT Magazine informing readers of their workplace rights.  

So far, so good. But to give the article some context – and because it was a big story relevant to our readership – we also had to report the original allegations.

Which is where things got tricky – because the harvest work contractor at the centre of the allegations operates East Bundy Backpackers, one of our regular advertisers.

We tried to get in contact with the hostel operators to get their side of the story, but were unable to do so prior to publication.

So we went ahead and published this piece…

Predictably, they weren’t happy when they saw it and promptly cancelled their advertising. And to be honest, I don’t blame them. If I spent money advertising my services in a magazine for backpackers, I wouldn’t be too happy to see a lot of negative publicity about my product on its news pages.

All we could say to placate them was that the article was drawn from a number of reports in the mainstream press, we did try to make contact prior to publication and we would be happy to publish their side of the story on Thumbrella and in TNT if they wish.

It would be great if they take up the offer, but I’m not holding my breath.

We try to work in partnership with our advertisers and distributors, but our first duty is to our readers. Sometimes this means we have to make difficult choices that are not always to our short-term commercial advantage. But, in the long run, backpackers know we are a credible source of information and are more likely to read the magazine (and therefore see and respond to the adverts).

We have even reprinted the “what you need to know” part of the article outlining workers’ rights, which will be laminated and distributed on all Oz Experience buses in the coming months.

I’m confident backpackers and advertisers will support us for doing the right thing. I hope so anyway – life can be lonely up here on the moral high ground.

Tripadvisor played a good April Fool’s joke on its members today, spruiking the site’s first ever traveller reviews from space in its e-newsletter…

Those gullible enough to click through (who, me?) were soon reminded of today’s date, however…

Tim Burrowes, Editor of Thumbrella’s sister site Mumbrella, reflects on the hardest job in the world – running Tourism Australia’s marketing department.

Running the marketing of Australia must be one of the most thankless jobs in the world. Most of your 22 million stakeholders are going to have a view on your strategy, and of course feel entitled to express it. No wonder there’s been a long gap since “Where the bloody hell are you?” died.

Read more >>

Positively Wellington Tourism, the New Zealand capital’s tourism body, has unveiled a new TV commercial as part of a $2m multimedia campaign targeting Australian tourists, reports Thumbrella’s sister site Mumbrella.

The “There’s No Place Like Wellington” campaign includes cinema and online advertising and will run until June. The news comes a day after Tourism Australia managing director Andrew McEvoy unveiled TA’s new catchline “There’s nothing like Australia”.

Positively Wellington Tourism CEO David Perks said: “There’s No Place Like Wellington is the product of significant research into both our Australian visitor target market and the tourism messaging they are currently exposed to.”

This story was published on the morning of April Fool’s Day

The backpacking industry is up in arms this morning after health officials banned bars from serving jager bombs as they promote alcohol abuse and sexually promiscuous behaviour among young people.  

The move comes after research found backpackers are more likely than their Australian counterparts to binge drink, have multiple sexual partners and unprotected sex.

Health authorities were urged to act in the wake of the findings – and now they have.

Polly Fordasia, Australia’s representative on the World Health Organisation’s Campaign for Less Alcoholism and Promiscuity (CLAP), told Thumbrella: “We are aware that backpackers like to have fun, and no-one wants to stop that. But excessive drinking lowers inhibitions and that’s when young people make poor choices. It’s up to those in the hospitality industry to prevent them getting so drunk on jager bombs they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Industry leaders have condemned the move. One said: “This is political correctness gone mad. All our staff are RSA trained and we make sure backpackers don’t get too drunk while they’re in our care. But banning jager bombs won’t make any difference anyway – they’ll drink anything.”

Another – who asked not to be named – said: “How am I going to pick up at industry do’s now?”

The backpacking industry has been encouraged to leverage Tourism Australia’s ‘There’s nothing like Australia’ marketing campaign after managing director Andrew McEvoy unveiled the new strategy in Sydney this morning.  

A competition will launch on April 15 encouraging members of the public to share their experiences of Australia by uploading photographs of their favourite places along with 25 words of explanation starting with the phrase “There’s nothing like…”

Every entry posted on the website nothinglikeaustralia.com will be tagged and geo-located, building an experiential map of Australia for would-be visitors. The results will also provide content for the advertising campaign to follow.

Tourism Australia executive general manager marketing Nick Baker said previous international visitors will also be able to upload their stories after the initial phase is complete.

All content will be pre-moderated to prevent abuse, although McEvoy said he was comfortable with the idea of individual companies using the campaign to promote their own business.

He added: “We have a third party moderator who will look for profanity, nudity and political incorrectness, it’s not real-time user-generated content. But we are unashamedly a marketing organisation – we don’t want to discourage marketing. We hope people are passionate about the campaign and really get involved.”

Oz Experience general manager Greg Cole told Thumbrella: “I can see the campaign working in our sector – ‘there’s nothing like backpacking in Australia…’ for example.”

Meanwhile, Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) managing director Matt Hingerty said the inclusive nature of the campaign meant it could be adapted to promote a specific market niche such as adventure tourism.

He added: “This campaign encourages local communities and businesses to get themselves on the tourism map. The concept gives them a great deal of control over how they would like their region to be seen in the eyes of the world.”

Almost all of the Queensland tourism businesses affected by Cyclone Ului earlier this month have returned to business as normal, a Tourism Queensland spokeswoman has said.  

Last week TQ issued a cyclone update for the Mackay/Whitsundays region with several island and mainland resorts reported to be closed.

But speaking to Thumbrella today the spokeswoman said 95 per cent of businesses were back in operation with only a few accommodation providers and tour operators still affected.

“Tourism Queensland is advising anyone concerned or in need of anymore information to contact their travel agent or tour operator,” she said.

Base Tourism Group has announced the resignation of Matt Hirst, general manager of its Queenstown property, while the group also plans to shift its New Zealand marketing operations to Australia.  

Hirst, who has been with Base for more than 11 years, departs the group to run his own bar in a joint venture with former Base and Backpackers World Travel CEO Campbell Shepherd. He also has a management agreement for an accommodation lodge on the outskirts of the town.

Base director of operations Peter Webster told Thumbrella: “It’s a great move for Matt but a big loss for the company.”

He added the group is moving its New Zealand marketing operations to Australia following the departure of  sales and marketing manager Melissa Rendell, with the New Zealand role becoming a purely sales position. Rendell will remain in the mainstream New Zealand travel industry in a sales and marketing role.

To apply for the general manager position, click here, and the sales position, click here.

International backpackers spent more than A$1billion in New South Wales last year, according to analysis by Tourism New South Wales of the latest International Visitor Survey.  

The study found backpackers shelled out $2,416 each in NSW during an average stay of 30.4 nights. This compares to a total spend of $6,114 and an average stay of 76.8 nights in Australia as a whole.

The figures reveal that, of the $3.5billion backpackers spent in Australia in 2009, nearly $1.1billion was spent in NSW.

Other findings show 446,800 backpackers visited the state in 2009, an increase of 5,700 on the previous year, meaning backpackers now represent 16.5% of its total tourist numbers (up 0.5% year on year).

The United Kingdom was the largest source market with 23.6% of visitors, followed by Germany (10.7%), the US (9.4%), France (6.4%), Scandinavia (6%), Canada (5.1%), Korea (5%), Ireland (3.8%), the Netherlands (3.1%) and New Zealand (2.9%).

Meanwhile, NSW is more popular with female backpackers (52.5%) than their male counterparts (47.5%).

The figures were drawn from Tourism Research Australia’s International Visitor Survey for the year-ending December 31 2009. A backpacker is defined as an international visitor who spent one or more nights in a backpacker or youth hostel during their stay in Australia.

To view the full report, click here.

Low-cost carriers Tiger Airways and Jetstar have launched a number of new routes as the north of Australia gears up for peak season.  

Tiger launched Rockhampton and Adelaide to Brisbane (both daily) and Melbourne to Brisbane (up to three times daily) yesterday and also announced a thrice-weekly Melbourne to Darwin service will restart on June 18, nearly two years after axing the route in October 2008.

Meanwhile, Jetstar is relaunching a direct, four-times weekly international service from Cairns to Osaka, Japan and 18 extra domestic flights between Cairns and Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.