Daily News & Opinion

Daiwa Living Waldorf has rebranded its Waldorf Apartments portfolio to Nesuto this week as a reflection of the new direction for the group. The rebrand comes as the company’s new shareholders begin an aggressive push to more than triple the brand’s Australia and New Zealand footprint of 1500 rooms to 5000 rooms by 2024. The Nesuto brand will be rolled out across 12 out of the group’s 23 properties including key apartment hotels in Woolloomooloo NSW, Mounts Bay WA and Auckland Stadium.

Alpine Wine Tours has just launched Queenstown’s first ever Progressive Dinner Tour. Guests can now explore the very best of Queenstown’s wineries, micro-breweries and restaurants in one evening. The Tours visit three locations: the Shotover River, the Valley of Vines – Gibbston Valley – and Arrowtown, and local hosts drive groups around in a Mercedes Sprinter. Prices are $249 per person all-inclusive and pre-bookings are required.

Following a decade of development and an investment of over $2 million, Hamilton Island guests can now experience the iconic Heart Reef lagoon. ‘Heart Island’ is only accessible via helicopter, and visitors will be able to see the intricacies of the iconic formation via a glass-bottom boat. After this exploration, guests will have the opportunity to snorkel around the coral in the neighbouring lagoons before returning to Heart Island for refreshments and a swim off the pontoon itself.

For the first time in three decades, the Sunshine Coast is getting a new internationally-branded hotel. The 167-room Holiday Inn Express & Suites property will be opened financed, developed and operated by Pro-Invest, and is slated to open by the end of 2020. In addition to its guest rooms, the nine-storey hotel will have a pool, bar, dining venue and conference and function facilities.

Tourism figures released this week have shown that 12 million domestic visitors converged on the Gold Coast last year. In the 12 months to March 2019, domestic overnight visitation grew by 17 per cent to a record four million. The number of Brisbane overnight visitors spiked by 37.7 per cent to a record 1.4 million, while Sydney and Melbourne saw visitation increase by 5.9 per cent and 1.7 per cent respectively, to draw a collective 2.1 million overnight interstate tourists.

Marriott International’s brand Moxy Hotels is set to expand its Australian footprint with the signing of a 150-room hotel in Perth. Moxy Perth is slated to open in December 2021, and will be located at 195 Hay Street. Each of the guest rooms will feature a minimalist yet multifunctional design, and the Moxy Bar will allow guests to check in over a cocktail. Moxy Perth is the second Moxy signing in Australia this year, following the announcement of Moxy Melbourne South Yarra.

The recent Women in Travel Awards, which took place at Doltone House in Sydney, saw Abu Dhabi crowned the Destination of the Year. This followed a successful roadshow around Australia, in partnership with Ethihad Airways, which showcased to 300 travel agents in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne the best of what the city has to offer. The average length of stay in Abu Dhabi increased by 13.63 per cent from 2.76 nights in 2018 to 13.1 nights in 2019.

The Flight Centre Travel Group’s global conference will take place in Brisbane in July 2020 following to the combined efforts of Tourism and Events Queensland and Brisbane Marketing. The event will bring up to 4500 travel consultants, executives and senior travel industry figures to the city and its surrounds, and is predicted to deliver a $7 million economic boost. The 2019 Global Gathering was held in Las Vegas and featured Mark Wahlberg.