Daily News & Opinion

Following a wages scandal which saw him underpay staff almost $8 million, celebrity chef George Calombaris has been dumped from Tourism WA’s advertising campaigns. Calombaris led a campaign promoting WA running alongside a WA-themed MasterChef week which aired earlier this season. The ads, which have been pulled across TV and digital mediums, were set to run until September. On the furore, state tourism minister Paul Papalia commented: “People should pay their employees what they’re owed… [it’s] really disappointing.”

The Principality of Monaco is now completely connected to 5G, making it the first in the world to achieve total coverage with the high-speed technology. The 5G roll-out is the first pillar of the Extended Monaco programme, which seeks to bring Monaco into the digital age. On the initiative, regional director of Visit Monaco Australia and New Zealand Alison Roberts-Brown said “5G represents an enormous opportunity for us to attract further demand from both MICE and leisure segments.”

Australia’s first urban resort, The Calile Brisbane, has just been named as the HICAP ANZ Development of the Year for 2019. The award – part of the annual Hotel Investment Conference Asia conference – recognises newly built, redeveloped, or repositioned hotels or resorts that opened in Australia or New Zealand between July 2018 and June 2019. The Calile is managed by TFE Hotels, and boasts 175 guest rooms and a generous conference space.

In a move to benefit the tourism and business events sectors, Malaysia has launched a US$1.2 million promotional fund. Known as GAMELAN Malaysia, the fund will support promotional activities and trade show participation, with up to a 50 per cent reimbursement for industry players. Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre general manager Alan Pryor welcomed the announcement. “We will be encouraging industry players to utilise the fund to increase their participation in travel fairs and exhibitions and organise roadshows and sales missions,” he said.

The next NSW ClubMEA/Future Leaders get together will allow guests to rub shoulders with some of the world’s biggest names. Jimmy Barnes, Kylie Minogue and the Hemsworth brothers will be present at the August 6 event, while mouth-watering bites are consumed and industry associates re-connect. Okay, they may be inanimate wax models located in Madame Tussauds Sydney, but it’s still pretty cool. Tickets are $65 for members and $100 for non-members.

Bookings for events with 20 delegates or less are eligible for The Table Bay’s new Full Day Winter Conference Package. The Cape Town property is offering the deal through to September 30, 2019, and it is available from 8 am to 5 pm each day. Inclusions are arrival, mid-morning and mid-afternoon refreshment breaks, Chef’s Winter Harvest Table lunch menu, venue hire, a screen and data projector, handmade biscuits and more. The cost is ZAR650 per person.

Following its June opening, 168-room hotel Element Melbourne Richmond has launched a slew of meeting and event facilities. The hotel offers four venues totalling 256 sqm of function space, including the 150-pax Skyline 1 room and the 100-pax Skyline 2 room. Both of these rooms can be combined to accommodate 250 people cocktail-style, and join the intimate Boardroom space which caters for 22 people, and an outdoor deck space which is ideal for coffee breaks and wrap-up parties.

Cvent has unveiled its list of the Top 10 Meeting Destinations for meetings and events in Australia and Oceania. While the list was topped by the usual suspects (Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane took out places one, two and three respectively), Nadi in Fiji emerged as a dark horse, taking out 10th place. Other notable recipients were the Gold Coast, which came in fourth; Perth, which took out fifth place; Auckland, which was lucky number six and Adelaide, which came seventh.