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IndustryVictoria trumps Travelling in Australia awardsVictoria has again proven its resilience in the aftermath of the Black Saturday bushfires and the impact of global economic pressures, securing the largest number of wins in Travelling in Australia Magazine’s Australia’s 20 Best Experiences Awards. Six Victorian tourism destinations or operators were named among the nation’s best, demonstrating the industry’s enduring capacity to deliver diverse, quality tourism experiences to visitors of all persuasions. The honours rolled in for regional Victorian tourism operators with 12 Apostles Helicopters, The Great Southern Touring Drive, Phillip Island Nature Park and Sovereign Hill all triumphant. Mt Buller also prevailed as the country’s Best Snow Experience after a bumper ski season, while the City of Melbourne secured further recognition as Australia’s top food and wine destination. Chantal Dunbar, Editor of Travelling in Australia Magazine, said the success of Victorian operators and destinations was a credit to the State. "It's been an incredibly hard year for Victoria as a whole and yet they've still managed to blitz the field," Ms Dunbar said. This is the second year the Australia’s 20 Best Experiences Awards have been staged. Judging was undertaken by an international panel of Premier Aussie Specialist travel agents. A full list of winners and runners up are listed online at travellinginaustralia.com.au Tourism Victoria ads hit the targetTourism Victoria campaigns were among the winners at the 2009 Melbourne Advertising and Design Club (MADC) Awards. The prestigious advertising industry awards annually recognise the year’s best Victorian-produced campaigns across a range of categories and mediums. Advertising contractors, Publicis Mojo and Publicis Digital picked up five awards between them, for their recent work on campaigns for the Goldfields, Melbourne in Winter, and The Dandenongs. The acclaimed Goldfields. Leave a Little Richer campaign earned Publicis Mojo two silver awards for Best Press Campaign and Best Photography Campaign, and a bronze for Best Art Direction. Award winners and finalists can be viewed at madc.com.au Victoria’s regionsWarrnambool to host tourism visitorsTourism industry representatives and visitor information centre staff from around the state will converge on Warrnambool next year for the Victorian Tourism Alliance Visitor Centre Summit. The conference, to be held across four days in August 2010, will bring more than 130 visitors to Warrnambool and provide the city and wider region with a valuable boost to the local economy. Warrnambool Visitor Information Centre Coordinator Rachel Edwards said the location was an ideal platform for visitors to explore the Great Ocean Road. In addition to next year’s Tourism Alliance state summit, Warrnambool will next month host a cross-border conference attended by 50 visitor centre staff from Adelaide and Geelong. In February the city will host the Australian Maritime Museums Council national conference. Photography rolls into BallaratEvolving from the highly successful Daylesford Foto Biennale, the inaugural Ballarat International Foto Biennale is set to enthral photography enthusiasts with its month-long program of photographic events. Opening last week, the 2009 showcase is set to cement the festival’s reputation as the biggest photographic event in the southern hemisphere. The program features core Biennale exhibitions as well as the works of up to 100 of the best photographers from Australia and around the world. Portfolio Councillor for the Art Gallery of Ballarat Cr Cheryl Bromfield said the Ballarat International Foto Biennale is a fantastic opportunity for local businesses to support what will be an exciting event for the city. This year’s event is expected to attract more than 40,000 visitors from metropolitan and regional Victoria, interstate and overseas. The Ballarat International Foto Biennale 2009 runs from 4 September to 4 October. MelbourneWomen’s Open Golf bunkers down in MelbourneMelbourne’s world class sporting calendar has been further bolstered with news that the city will host the Women’s Australian Open Golf tournament until 2011. Sports Minister James Merlino said reigning champion and one-time US Women’s Open winner Laura Davies would return to defend her title in 2010 at the Commonwealth Golf Club in Oakleigh South from 11-14 February 2010. The Women’s Australian Open will build on Melbourne’s reputation as a premier golfing destination with next year’s event to be held in the heart of the city’s internationally-renowned sand-belt region. Last year alone over 60,000 international golf visitors visited Victoria, injecting around $242 million into the economy. The Open adds to the impressive line-up of major golfing events making their way to Melbourne including the 2009 Australian Masters in November featuring Tiger Woods and Geoff Ogilvy, as well as golf’s blue ribbon event, The Presidents Cup, staged at Royal Melbourne in 2011. Explore a century of screen history at the Australian MediathequeA major new screen resource centre will open at Federation Square on 18 September, providing Victorians and visitors to Melbourne with new and exciting opportunities to explore Australia’s rich screen and film history. The space, known as the Australian Mediatheque, is a collaborative effort between the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) and the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA). In an Australian-first it will give the community free public access to a rich repository of moving image works from Australia and the world, spanning more than a century.Within the gallery visitors will be able to access on-demand digitised works including sound resources, clips from Australian television, student and community-made short films, and curated packages including Len Lye, Historic Melbourne from the NFSA, ACMI produced digital stories and Vintage Victoria from the ACMI collection. On-site facilities will include custom-designed viewing booths with LCD screens, search terminals to browse available works and a viewing room where researchers can view 16mm and 35mm films. ACMI Director Tony Sweeney said the Australian Mediatheque will be a key permanent feature in the redevelopment of ACMI and provide diverse opportunities for entertainment, research and learning. The Australian Mediatheque will be open to the general public from 18 September between 12-6pm Monday to Sunday. MCG delivers new benefits to sports fansThe Victorian Government, the Australian Football League (AFL), the Melbourne Cricket Club and the MCG Trust have a struck a deal which will see a major refurbishment of the Great Southern Stand, among a suite of other key developments. Announcing the breakthrough last week, Premier John Brumby said the Victorian Government would deliver a capped contribution of $30 million towards the stand redevelopment, with a detailed scoping study due to begin before the end of the year. The scoping works will investigate how best to revitalise some of the entry points to the ground including a more streamlined ticketing area as well as upgrades to food and beverage areas and basement floor food courts. “It will also look into replacement and upgrades to seating, public concourses and amenities and a refurbishment of function and dining rooms for greater patron comfort,” Premier Brumby said. AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick thanked the Victorian Government for its support and said the new agreement provided benefits to the clubs, the MCG and the broader Victorian economy. The continued enhancement of the MCG and its surrounds will ensure Victoria delivers on its capacity to provide world-class spectator experiences and attract major sporting and cultural events to the state. Food & WineHats off to Good Food Guide winnersThe Age Good Food Guide 2010 was launched last week, again highlighting the quality and depth of fine food establishments throughout Victoria. Windsor’s Jacques Reymond was named restaurant of the year while Andrew McConnell, of Cutler & Co, took home the chef of the year award. In the regional stakes, Provenance in Beechworth was named best new country restaurant and Ryan Sessions' Merrijig Inn in Port Fairy won country restaurant of the year. The Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld was awarded country wine list of the year. Merrijig Inn, Royal Mail Hotel, The Lake House (Daylesford), Simone’s Restaurant (Bright) and Stefano’s (Mildura) all came away with two hats, with a single hats awarded to 15 regional establishments across the state. Jacques Reymond and Shannon Bennett’s Vue de Monde were the only restaurants to secure three hats this year. New Good Food Guide Editor Janne Apelgren said that despite the darker economic times, restaurants had fared well with diners continuing to show their support. ''We have had some exciting openings this year; there have been quite a few new restaurants that have really launched and prospered and they are all quite different.” The 30th edition of the guide is now available at newsagents and bookstores. Adventure & BackpackingWorld Nomads Vantastic adventureWorld Nomads ambassadors will travel around Victoria for six weeks filming their adventures as part of the World Nomads Vantastic campaign. The Victorian team will be led by Londoner, Tim Akroyd, who was selected for his vibrant personality, sense of fun and adventure, and excellent production skills – as seen on his skiing and snowboarding website snowfix.com. Media & trade visitsTourism Victoria continues to support tourism operators across the state by coordinating visits (‘familiarisations’) for Australian and international media and the travel trade. Melbourne: Fashion and FunJournalists from the Australian Financial Review, Harpers Bazaar online, The Weekend Australian and Marie Claire were privy to the latest trends in fashion, racewear and city hang-outs as part of the recent Melbourne Spring Fashion Week media familiarisation. During the famil, media enjoyed exclusive access to Melbourne Spring Fashion Festival events – including the Flemington Spring Fashion Lunch, the Girls Day Out, and Designer Series shows featuring new collections from top Melbourne design houses Arthur Galan, Bettina Liano, Jack London, ALPHA 60 and TV. The group later ventured to the Fashion Incubator’s A Birthday Tribute to Barbie to cast their eyes over more 100 Barbie dolls dressed in haute couture and fashion trends. They also went to the Marc Jacobs exhibition at ACMI where they saw the Australian premiere of Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton. Evening itineraries included visits to some of the city’s trendiest bars and eateries including Nobu, MoMo, Baroq House and The Red Hummingbird. New Zealand travel industry sweeps into townForty-six retail and wholesale travel agents from New Zealand have travelled to Melbourne to take in some of the state’s signature experiences. CampaignsCelebrate every art form at the Melbourne International Arts FestivalBlue Holidays and Tourism Victoria have teamed up to entice visitors to this year’s Melbourne International Arts Festival. This year’s Melbourne International Arts Festival, to be held from 9-24 October, will draw on works from every artform for a unique celebration of contemporary artistic practice. Showcasing artists from 26 countries, the 2009 Melbourne Festival is set to be the most international festival yet, with 90 per cent of the work programmed will be exclusive to Melbourne. Highlights will include the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the opera Medea presented by Sasha Waltz & Guests, and Peter Greenaway’s take on Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper.Package deals – including return airfares to Melbourne and two nights’ accommodation – are currently being promoted on the Virgin Blue website at virginblue.com.au/artsfestival Additional Tourism Victoria campaigns scheduled to take place this month include:
What’s onChinese Cultural Awareness seminarWith the projected growth in the Chinese market and increased flights from China into Melbourne, it makes good business sense to build your business capability to cater for Chinese visitors. Leonie McKeon, the Managing Director of Chinese Language and Cultural Advice will present on the differences between China and Australia, pronunciation of Chinese names, Chinese communication styles, ‘Face’, ‘Guanxi’ (networking/relationships) and meetings. Victorian Tourism Awards Presentation and Gala CeremonyThe 25th Melbourne Airport 2009 Victorian Tourism Awards Presentation and Gala Ceremony is a night where the tourism industry will come together to toast to the year’s outstanding tourism operators. Victoria’s International ExchangeInternational tourism trends and opportunities will be the major talking point when industry and Tourism Victoria’s overseas-based managers meet at Victoria’s International Exchange (VIE) this November. Upcoming events |
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 08 September 2009 ) |