Corporate Travel News For South Pacific

Tourism New Zealand stated (13-Apr-2017) the World Masters Games opens in Auckland on 21-Apr-2017 and is a major opportunity to encourage as many of the international participants, their family and friends, to stay longer and travel further afield in New Zealand before or after the Games. The Games also provide a platform to showcase New Zealand to the world. Before the event, Tourism New Zealand has produced content that has resulted in 89 stories globally that are helping to promote New Zealand as a tourist destination. Tourism New Zealand will also continue to explore content and PR opportunities with visiting media throughout the 10 day event. [more - original PR]

Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand partnered (18-Apr-2017) with Brazilian travel show, Lugar Incomum to feature the country in eight dedicated episodes. Tourism New Zealand GM Americas and Europe Bjoern Spreitzer stated Tourism New Zealand took full advantage of the show's airtime and built a significant marketing campaign around it including amplified advertising in Brazil featuring the show's host Didi Wagner. Mr Spreitzer added: "Brazil is a market showing steady growth and with direct flights to New Zealand now arriving three times a week from nearby Buenos Aires with plans to extend, the region has really opened up". [more - original PR]

Tourism & Transport Forum Australia (TTF) stated (17-Feb-2017) the "continued cap on aircraft movements at Sydney Airport is fast becoming a cap on international visitor arrivals at Australia's largest gateway". TTF CEO Margy Osmond warned the constraints are "crippling" Sydney Airport's capability to receive more international services and build visitor numbers and urged restrictions, "must to be reviewed to enable the growth of our international visitor economy to continue". TTF urged the Australian Government to implement the following reforms:

• Increase hourly slot caps and movement caps from 80 to 90 aircraft per hour "to meet peak demand and prepare for growth not just in international traffic, but also domestic flights";
• Eliminate the measure restricting movements to 20 per 15 minutes "to enable much greater flexibility in aircraft movements within the legislated hourly caps";
• Align aircraft slot and movement rules at Sydney Airport with other developments such as airport terminal expansion, in readiness for expected increases in tourist arrivals. [more - original PR]

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued (27-Nov-2015) a draft determination proposing to re-authorise Qantas and American Airlines to continue to coordinate their operations on trans-Pacific routes for a further five years. Under the alliance, the airlines propose to continue coordination in respect of marketing and sales, freight, pricing, scheduling, distribution strategies including agency arrangements, yield and inventory management, frequent flyer programs, lounges, joint procurement, and product and service standards. ACCC Commissioner Dr Jill Walker said: "The ACCC considers this alliance would be likely to result in continued public benefits for passengers travelling between Australia and the US through enhanced products and services including new frequencies and destinations, more online connections, better scheduling, greater loyalty programme benefits and improved lounge access... The alliance is also likely to promote competition between other airlines that provide services on trans-Pacific routes. The ACCC considers that the alliance is unlikely to result in any significant public detriment, largely because the ACCC accepts that American Airlines would be unlikely to introduce its own trans-Pacific services in the absence of its alliance with Qantas". [more - original PR]

Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) released (05-May-2014) its 2013 annual report, noting leisure travel accounted for almost one-fifth of Canada's international trade in services, while overall tourism export revenue grew by 2.5% to reach CAD16.4 billion (USD15.05 million). Canada's economy received CAD545 million (USD500.28 million) in tourism revenue, CAD72 million (USD66.09 million) toward federal tax revenue, while 4416 jobs were created or protected in Canadian tourism businesses. Some 2.56 million visitors visited Canada from CTC's 10 leisure markets in 2013, an increase of 2.9%. In 2013, CTC stated Canada welcomed 16.6 million international overnight visitors from the US and all other markets, up 2% over 2012, largely driven by increased visitation from Asia. Growth from the ten leisure markets where the CTC actively invests also grew, seeing a 2.9% rise, and totalling 73,000 visitors. CTC noted this increase is attributable to significant growth from emerging markets, including China, Mexico and South Korea, while more modest increases were seen from the core markets of France and Australia, with a slight decline from the UK. CTC reported the key drivers for growth include lower oil prices and increased air capacity, with over 150,000 seats added to the existing capacity in 2013. CTC reported the status of the following markets:

• UK: 589,000 travellers spent CAD788 million (USD723.33 million) in 2013, an increase of 0.4% in revenue over 2012;
• France: 426,500 travellers spent CAD537 million (USD492.93 million) in 2013, an increase of 1.4% in revenue over 2012;
• Germany: 276,200 travellers spent CAD421 million (USD386.45 million) in 2013, an increase of 1.0% in revenue over 2012;
• Australia: 224,600 travellers spent CAD398 million (USD365.34 million) in 2013, an increase of 1.2% in revenue over 2012;
• China: 334,100 travellers spent CAD603 million (USD553.52 million) in 2013, an increase of 24.2% in revenue over 2012;
• India: 162,700 travellers spent CAD171 million (USD156.97 million) in 2013, a decrease of 0.8% in revenue over 2012;
• Brazil: 78,600 travellers spent CAD160 million (USD146.87 million) in 2013, an increase of 5.2% in revenue over 2012;
• Japan: 188,900 travellers spent CAD302 million (USD277.22 million) in 2013, a decrease of 3.1% in revenue over 2012;
• Mexico: 139,700 travellers spent CAD216 million (USD198.27 million) in 2013, an increase of 10.8% in revenue over 2012;
• South Korea: 142,000 travellers spent CAD247 (USD226.73 million) million in 2013, an increase of 5.8% in revenue over 2012. [more - original PR]

easyJet announced (24-Apr-2013) an agreement with training company CTC to provide an initial intake of 36 trainees to commence multi-crew pilot's licence training in 2013 and be qualified for line operations with easyJet by late 2014 or early 2015. Training will take place at CTC's facilities in the UK and New Zealand. easyJet head of flight operations Brian Tyrrell said, "easyJet is actively recruiting 200 pilots with a cross-section of experience levels - both qualified and cadet pilots. We have been enhancing the career paths for our pilots and we are confident that we are offering an excellent opportunity for new pilots to begin and develop their careers with us." [more - original PR]

CTC Aviation Training stated (25-Nov-2011) it is experiencing strong business growth on the back of some significant international contracts. The latest agreement to be signed is a long-term contract with Royal Brunei Airlines to train all the carrier's new pilots. The agreement follows new business from British Airways and Monarch Airlines secured over the last few months. In Oct-2011, Monarch Airlines and CTC Aviation announced a new partnership to deliver Multi-crew Pilot Licence (MPL) training together. Monarch and CTC have a long-standing relationship and almost one quarter of Monarch's current pilot workforce are graduates of CTC's cadet training programme. Monarch has selected CTC to exclusively supply all their future cadet pilots under a newly launched cadet training programme. In Aug-2011, CTC signed a long-term agreement with British Airways to manage the whole of the airline's new 'Future Pilot Programme'. Cadets selected by CTC and British Airways will undergo training at CTC's UK and New Zealand training centres. [more - original PR]