Miss Tourism Australia 2011 NSW Preliminary at Roselands Shopping Centre

The Miss Tourism Australia 2011 NSW Preliminary at Roselands Shopping Centre.

Metro Hotels staff were in attendance, Mr Ricky Risal (Aspire Hotel Sydney Manager) who was one of four judges for this event and Mr Richard Amour (Business Development Manager).
Behind the Miss Tourism pageant are the producers of Miss Universe Australia, who use this competition to promote tourism and cultural exchange and find the Australian finalist to be entered into the international Miss Tourism pageant.

Judges for the competition include industry experts Carmel Pizzino of Dancing with the Stars fame; Peter Sereno the pageant expert who aided Jennifer Hawkins to her 2004 win; Sylvia Lee of Sylvia Lee Couture, designer and creators of this year’s Miss Universe Australia evening gown; and international model booker Rick O’Brien.

Contestants will be scored on three sections: Sportswear, Eveningwear and a Personality question and answer session. Fashion items will be provided by Centro Roselands retailers including Portmans, Sportsgirl, Myer, Target and Gigi’s Shoes.

Centro Roselands Marketing Manager, Marina Majeran encourages girls to come down and be a part of the competition. “It is such a great opportunity for our local customers to join in the major pageant; who knows, they could even take the title and become Australia’s newest worldwide tourist ambassador”.

Investment Welcome in NSW Tourism

The British owned Merlin Entertainment Group's decision to invest $40 million into revitalising some of Sydney’s major tourist draw cards is welcomed by the Tourism Industry Council NSW.



Merlin Entertainment Group runs 75 tourist attractions across 17 countries, including Sydney Aquarium, Sydney Wildlife World, Oceanworld Manly and Sydney Tower and Skywalk and have planned a multi-million dollar redevelopment and rebranding of Sydney’s tallest building – to be known as the Sydney Tower Eye from next month. Merlin purchased the four Sydney properties from Village Roadshow in December last year.



“This new investment for tourism in Sydney, including a new $2 million 4D Cinema and the May 2012 opening of a new attraction – Madame Tussaud’s celebrity wax museum at Darling Harbour – is a positive step for the beleaguered local tourism sector”, said Tourism Industry Council NSW Executive Officer, Andrew Jefferies.



“At a time when many Australians have looked to take advantage of the value of the dollar overseas, every investment in our local market should be acknowledged and celebrated as a step to encourage more international, interstate and local visitors to our City”.



Mr Jefferies said “the last major investment into an attraction in Sydney was as far back as August 2006”.



“Whilst Sydney continues to attract the majority of international inbound tourists to its doorstep, it is imperative that local infrastructure is renewed and updated to reflect the more challenging and diversified inbound tourist market”.



Sydney will join London, New York, Amsterdam, Las Vegas, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Washington DC, Berlin, Los Angeles, Vienna and Blackpool on the list of Madame Tussaud's celebrity wax museums.

Research On Sydney's Precincts - Sydney Tourism News

Tourism NSW has conducted research in Melbourne, Queensland, the ACT and regional NSW into visitors’ perceptions of 32 Sydney tourism precincts. Among the key findings of the study:

The top three precincts in terms of level of interest were Darling Harbour (61 per cent), The Rocks (58 per cent) and Chinatown/Haymarket (52 per cent)
There are opportunities for precincts to capitalise on return visitor numbers by providing updates on what’s new in their area
Some precincts need to highlight the ease and availability of public transport more effectively to foster greater visitor interest.
The survey also showed the top Sydney precincts named by respondents for a range of activities.

Shopping: Chinatown/Haymarket (34 per cent); Double Bay (32 per cent); Darling Harbour (27 per cent)
Food: Chinatown/Haymarket (55 per cent); The Rocks (36 per cent); Darling Harbour (33 per cent)
Beaches: Bondi (81 per cent); Palm Beach (65 per cent and 7 per cent mentioned Home & Away); Manly (62 per cent)
Art and Culture: The Rocks (13 per cent); Chinatown/Haymarket (12 per cent) and Newtown (9 per cent).

Singapore TV Series to Promote NSW

As part of the There’s Nothing Like Australia campaign, Tourism NSW has been working with Tourism Australia and travel agency Chan Brothers to showcase Australian food and wine on Singapore’s top-rating travelogue, Food Source.

The program is a series of one hour television episodes featuring famous food and ingredients from various countries. It has consistently achieved a high number of TV viewers since its first season in 2010. It also won awards for Best Variety Show and Best Variety Show Host in Singapore.

The NSW part of the program goes on air from today to 6 July in Singapore, where the host will bring viewers on the food discovery trail of Sydney Fish Market; Montrose Berry Farm, Li Sun Mushrooms and Cedar Creek Juice in the Southern Highlands; Saliba & Bilpin Fruit Bowl and Broken Bay Oysters in the Blue Mountains/Hawkesbury; and Bon Appetitte Snails in the Hunter Valley. Chan Brothers has developed packages for people to book tours to the experiences featured in the program.

Source: Tourism NSW Insights, 22 June 2011

"New Sydney" Showcased at ATE

Domestic and international travel media attended a press conference hosted by Tourism NSW at ATE today. Patricia Forsythe, Chair of the Greater Sydney Partnership, spoke about the “new Sydney” outlining the many exciting developments and billions of dollars worth of investment in the pipeline for this city.

The developments include:

- Redevelopment of UTS Business School featuring a breathtaking new Frank Gehry designed building
- Redevelopment of Star City
- The new multipurpose Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre
- $6 billion development of Barangaroo
- $26 million new wing of the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Lyndel Gray, Executive Director and General Manager, Tourism NSW spoke about key experiences in Sydney that set the city apart from other cities in the world including beaches, food and wine, nature and events. Attendees were shown a new short film which highlighted the developments planned and underway. To see the film click here. The press conference also featured a 'hype reel' with amazing images showing the vibrancy and beauty of Sydney and NSW.

(Source: Insights, 4th April 2011)

Sydney Gets on Board - Sydney Tourism News

Tourism NSW is operating a “cruise welcome desk” at the Overseas Passenger Terminal during February and March, the peak time for international cruise visits to Sydney. The initiative commenced last week with the arrival of P&O’s Diamond Princess and is a pilot program run in partnership with the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority and the City of Sydney.

The cruise welcome desk will ensure the tens of thousands of passengers in the peak season receive a warm welcome and helpful advice on what to do and see while they’re here. A highlight will be the arrival of Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth on her first voyage to Sydney on 22 February.

Students from William Blue College of Hospitality and Management are manning the cruise desk to provide information to visitors. A total of eight students from the college will assist visitors at the OPT. The students will get hands-on experience in the tourism industry and a Certificate of Recognition from Tourism NSW. The cruise shipping industry injects almost $300 million into the NSW economy each year. A total of 27 cruise ship visits are scheduled for Sydney in February and March. The city is set to welcome more than 55,000 visitors and receive a $20 million boost for the state’s economy.

Get Star Struck With BridgeClimb

BridgeClimb are providing an exclusive opportunity to experience a Climb on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during Earth Hour.

Led by Fred Watson, the astronomer in charge of the Anglo-Australian Observatory, climbers will have the rare opportunity to watch in awe from the top of the Bridge as the lights switch off in Sydney and the city’s sky illuminates with stars.

Earth Hour is on Saturday, 27 March from 8:30pm – 9:30pm, when homes and businesses across Sydney will switch off their lights to show their support for action on climate change.

Watson will provide expert guided commentary on astronomy for the climbers without the usual light pollution that makes it almost impossible to stargaze in the beautiful city of Sydney.

“Light pollution is caused by inefficient artificial lighting illuminating the sky so that fainter astronomical objects, like stars, are hard to see or disappear altogether,” the award winning Watson said.

Watson then went on to comment that “"The main thing is to…get away from places where there is a concentration of light, so Earth Hour will be the perfect opportunity to catch a glimpse of our city’s night sky at its best".

This exclusive Climb will be on The Bridge Climb and will start at 6:45pm. Tickets are $188 each, with limited spots available. To take advantage of this rare opportunity, please call the ticket hotline on (02) 8274 7777.

To book a climb at another time on one of our three amazing climbs, The Bridge Climb, The Discovery Climb or our newest climb, The Express Climb, please visit www.bridgeclimb.com.

(Source: TravMedia 23/03/10)