Australia's Central Northern Territory is heavily reliant on tourism

A new report released by Martin Ferguson, Minister for Tourism has highlighted the country’s top tourism regions. The report, conducted by Tourism Research Australia looks at the amount visitors contribute to the local economy in Australia’s top 20 tourism regions.

Some of the most tourism dependant areas are the Central North Territory, Philip Island in Victoria, the Whitsundays in Queensland and the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales.  

Speaking about the importance of tourism as a major economic contributor, Mr Ferguson said:

“Tourism is the lifeblood of many regional areas; it creates jobs where people live. Tourism is a source of employment for many people including hospitality professionals, uni students, travelers, indigenous workers and older Australia’s looking for part-time employment.”

The Tourism Minister highlighted the reliance that many areas have on tourism.

 “Regions such as the Gold Coast, Tropical North Queensland, Sunshine Coast, NSW Mid North Coast and NSW Northern Rivers not only have a very high reliance on the tourism sector, tourism contributes between $1 billion and $4.5 billion to their local economy.”

“Visitors travel to regional areas for many reasons- not just holidays but to visit their friends and relatives, for business, for learning and cultural experiences and for personal reasons. Almost 46 cents in every dollar spent by visitors is spent in regional Australia.”

This report highlights the position of regional Australia, particularly in the face of the rising dollar which has already seen a drop in tourism. It is also a good indicator of quality tourist destinations, areas that are almost solely reliant on tourism will be able to offer more than metropolitan areas that cater for everyone.

anyone travelling to Australia will need a Visitors Visa.

Tiger Airways has been accused of cutting its pilot training to save money

Tiger Airways has been issued with a “show cause” notice by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority following a number of breaches in the safety and maintenance of their aircraft.

The budget airline triggered a price war when it first entered the market, causing both Qantas and Virgin to cut their domestic fares by 30 percent.

Despite this, Tiger has continued to undercut its competitors by considerable margins, sparking fears that the airlines has been taking shortcuts on the maintenance of its aircraft and pilot training in order to stay profitable.

The industry regulator is demanding answers and evidence to show that the claims made against the airline are not true. Tiger has 21 days to respond to the notice; failure to do so may result in all Tiger aircraft being grounded.

While the CASA has said that it will not comment on the case, Tiger Airways said: “Last month, CASA asked Tiger to clarify certain matters, which Tiger has responded to in full,” and that “Safety underpins Tiger’s operations at all times.”

Tiger is not the only airline looking to cut spending in the face of ever increasing fuel prices, the entire industry is struggling to remain profitable.

While some larger, more established airlines are able to upgrade their fleets to newer and more efficient aircraft, others (particularly budget airlines) can only cut spending wherever possible and some have already gone bust.

It may sound like the same story but it isn’t, not quite. Qantas will be increasing its fuel surcharge for the third time this Easter, exceeding the 40 percent rise it has already implemented in order to stay in profit.

Both Qantas and Virgin Blue will be hiking surcharges in order to sustain profits in the face of a 33 percent rise in fuel costs since Christmas which is showing no sign of slowing down.

The fuel crisis which is forcing airlines to up prices began with the Gulf of Mexico incident and has been exacerbated by wars in the Middle East which have severely disrupted both production and distribution.

The latest fuel rise will see a further $10 added to European fares and more than $5 to trans-Pacific tickets. The increases could be higher however as Qantas so far has only passed on 40 percent of fuel costs to the passenger.

If fuel costs continue to increase at the current rate Qantas will soon be forced into taking drastic measures.

Exotic offerings are to join the breakfast buffet staples

In a bid to cater for growing numbers of Indian and Chinese guests, Australian hotel chains are starting to offer more diverse breakfast buffets as part of their package.

In addition to traditional breakfast staples such as sausage, bacon, toast, egg, fruit, croissants and the like, dishes such as dahl, chapati, rice soup and noodles are likely to appear so that Asian visitors to Australia don’t feel alienated.

The Accor group of hotels, which includes Novotel and Mercure, is the first to introduce a program catering specifically to visitors from China and India. As well as breakfast buffets, they have recruited Chinese and Hindi-speaking staff into their hotels, and Chinese and Indian TV channels into their entertainment menu.

Australia’s Tourism Forecasting Committee predicts that Chinese holidaymakers will be the second-largest market for Australian Tourism by 2018, after New Zealand. Inbound travel from India is set to double by 2020, increasing about 10 percent a year.

These figures reflect the growth of personal wealth in Asia’s industrial powerhouses, and the accompanying urge to travel among their populations. China and India are both very large and diverse places, with ancient and ingrained cultures,  so mass-market overseas tourism is a relatively new trend.

Newbie Asian tourists can traditionally be a little apprehensive about the brash and incomprehensible Western world, so Australia’s hotels have recognised the need to provide as much familiarity to them as possible.

International tourism is booming in Australia – unaffected by recent floods and storms – but domestic tourism is starting to level off, so if tourism spending is to grow overall, the focus will need to switch to overseas visitors.

Overall growth means that demand for rooms and staff is growing – by 2020, the industry will need 50,000 extra hotel rooms and 100,000 new tourism jobs.

In a country with such low unemployment, this could have an effect on the Migration Skills list – so anyone hoping to migrate to Australia who has good hospitality experience, watch this space!

Meanwhile, we can all take advantage of the expanded breakfast menu… Dahl on toast is something we can happily get used to.

Following an incident in which explosive decompression ripped a hole in the fuselage of an American Airlines jet, causing an emergency landing, the US Federal Aviation Authority has issued a directive to inspect all potentially affected aircraft for metal fatigue.

The world wide directive will affect Boeing 737-300, 400 and 500 models, 175 in total.

Qantas spokeswoman Emma Kearns has said that Qantas will examine four of its 737-400s but has denied that it will have to ground the aircraft.

“We don’t have to ground them, we just have to carry out inspections on four of the fleet in line with the airline worthiness directive by the FAA…We’ll be carrying out those inspections within the next 10 days.”

Ms Kearns said that checking for metal fatigue is straightforward and should not affect service.

Qantas is planning on selling 21 of its Boeing 737-400s in order to make room in its fleet for newer, greener aircraft in order to combat the rise in fuel prices that are expected to continue into the unforeseeable future.

Despite the number of incidents which have plagued Qantas over the last six months and now possibility that some of its fleet may be taken out of service Qantas is faring well. The airline is tied fifth with Thai Airways in the latest International Airline Satisfaction report with 81 percent of customers satisfied.

Moreton Bay, a destination for fishing enthusiasts

Queensland is to have three new purpose built steel and concrete reefs installed in shallow waters off Bribie, North Moreton and South Stradbroke islands in order to provide better conditions for fishing in and around Moreton Bay.

Environment and Resource Management Minister Kate Jones said, “These huge structures will create a fishing paradise for recreational fishers in Moreton Bay.”

The huge artificial reefs, unveiled in Brisbane will not only help fishing opportunities but will hopefully encourage a diverse variety of marine wildlife to enter the area including organic reef. In the long term it should ensure that the area is not overfished and that it becomes a breeding ground for a number of fish species.

“The location of the reefs has been chosen in close consultation with local volunteers and fishing organisations, ensuring these fishing spots are accessible and provide for a range of different fishing experiences throughout the bay,” Ms Jones said.

So if you are a fishing enthusiast or into marine conservation, then Moreton Bay should be on your list of places to go.

Flights will be cut, Staff will be cut and prices will go up

Qantas has announced that it will be cutting jobs and flights in order to try and stem the losses that the rising price of fuel and the lasting effects of recent natural disasters are causing.

It is likely that flights to Japan, Melbourne and New Zealand will be reduced, that aircraft will be downsized and jobs cut accordingly however it has been indicated that only management positions will be cut in the near future. Qantas staff are already planning strike action and this latest piece of news will only hasten this.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has said that the actions being undertaken are in response to the recent natural disasters in Australia, New Zealand and Japan and the rising price of jet fuel all of which have cost Qantas more than $140 million.

“The significant and sustained increases in the price of fuel, is the most serious challenge Qantas has faced since the Global Financial Crisis,” he said.

“The price of Singapore Jet Fuel has risen from around US$88 per barrel in September 2010, to more than US$131 per barrel today. Qantas fuel costs for the second half of [the financial year] will be $2 billion.

“There has never been a time when the world faced so many natural disasters, all of which have come at a significant financial cost to the Qantas Group.”

From next month flights to Japan will be cut significantly, flights from Perth to Narita will be cut altogether and flights from Sydney to Narita will be downsized from a Boeing 747 to an Airbus 330.

On top of the cuts to services, Qantas have indicated that they are likely to increase fuel surcharges again if jet fuel prices continue the current upward trend.

Australia Tourism has announced that in conjunction with Quicksilver it has a trip to Australia up for grabs. The winner will have the chance to be the official blogger for the 2012 Quicksilver Pro Gold Coast.

“The Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast is the premier surf event in all of Australia and the kick-off to the world tour every year” Marketing Director of Quiksilver, Eddie Anaya, said

For “Surf, Sun and Social Networking in Australia” contestants can enter their best adventure photo with a 100 word piece about their idea of the best adventure Australia has to offer.  Entries should be uploaded to Facebook.com/AustraliaWorkandPlay or Facebook.com//Quicksilver. The winner will be the one with the most likes at the end of the competition. The competition closes on April 8^th.

Daryl Hudson, vice president of Tourism Australia said “There’s nothing like an Australian adventure… From our iconic beaches, to our world-class cities and of course our native wildlife, the winning blogger will be on the front lines of some amazing experiences.”

Up for grabs is a two week round-trip to Australia from Los Angeles, Dallas, San Francisco or New York. The first week will be spent blogging the 2012 Quicksilver Pro in Queensland and the second will be spent in a state of their choice, holidaying and blogging.

“It’s exciting to partner with Tourism Australia to offer one of our fans a behind the scenes experience where they get to blog and rub elbows with the best surfers in the world at one of Australia’s legendary surf breaks – Snapper Rocks.”

In order to go to Australia the winner will need a visa which can easily be applied for online. 

It’s more bad news for passengers: Qantas has increased its fuel surcharge for international flights yet again as unrest in the Middle East continues to inflate the global oil price.

Ticket prices to and from New Zealand will increase by 8 percent and domestic flights will see an increase of $10 per passenger from March 31^st.  Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has said that since increasing fares and the fuel surcharge in February jet fuel has rocketed a further 15 percent.  

He said that the increase in oil prices is a “major concern” to all airlines, not just Qantas.

“The situation today is very different to the last fuel crisis, when the global economy was strong,” Mr Joyce said.

He said that he could not rule out further price increases as the entire industry is dependent on jet fuel prices.  

“Even with favourable hedging in place, it is still at a much higher price than we can absorb,” Mr Joyce said

“In spite of this hedging offset, fuel surcharges and fare increases, we will not be recovering the full impact of current and forecast fuel prices.” He said that the cost of fuel is expected to hit $2 billion over the next six months.

Air travel will soon be much more expensive

Its bad news for those who use Qantas for international flights as the airline is going to increase its fuel surcharges for the second time and the changes will be apply to all tickets from the 17^th of March.  

Last month Qantas increased its fuel surcharge on international flights by 50 percent and shortly after increased the fuel surcharge on its domestic flights by five percent.    

The price increases have been blamed on a “range of factors” which includes rising fuel prices and instability in the Middle East said Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce.  

“This increased cost to our capital intensive business is something we, and other airlines, have to manage very carefully via hedging activities as well as surcharge and fare increases.” He said.

He also said that the surcharges do not in themselves deal with the issue of oil rises which are ongoing. He said that he cannot rule out the possibility of further price rises.

“Our international surcharges and domestic, regional and Tasman fares remain under review, and further increases will be considered if necessary,” he said.

Fuel costs for Qantas Group will hit $2 billion in the second half of this financial year and is one of the biggest issues in the industry.