Here’s how to cash in on the gap year boom
In this guest posting, Gapyear.com founder Tom Griffiths tells you how to cash in on disappointed UK students who miss out on a university place this year.
UK media reports that 200,000 young people will miss out on university places this year may be overhyped – in truth about 100,000 don’t normally get in anyway – but it’s still a shocking statistic. And an opportunity for you guys Down Under to cash in. Read more »
Lonely Planet – the gift that keeps on giving
There’s nothing my kids hate more than hearing me start a telling off with the phrase “when I was a kid…” It usually follows them taking an ordinary household item – like the family computer – for granted. Read more »
ATEC could do worse than appoint the next Matt Hingerty to replace the last one
As a long-suffering England soccer fan, I’ve noticed a trend in the way the Football Association appoints the national team manager. That is, it tends to go for the polar opposite of the man who went before. If you don’t believe me, here’s the recent evidence… Read more »
Another Wicked piece of marketing
I’ve written about this before, but once again I have to confess to a sneaking admiration for the PR and marketing expertise of John Webb and Wicked Campers. Read more »
Grounds for cautious optimism, but things could get worse before they get better
Just got back from a couple of weeks in London – surely the world’s most depressed capital city at the moment, but more of that later – and everyone I speak to seems to be 20 per cent down. Read more »
BOA successfully talks up the ‘Gong and south coast
BOA president Katrina Greeves’ wrap-up on last week’s regional meeting in Wollongong.
Over 10 local South Coast tourism operators joined BOA Committee representatives and members at the ‘BOA Talks South Coast’ event in Wollongong last Thursday to engage in lively debate regarding travel and tourism issues affecting the backpacker, student and youth market in the south coast region. Read more »
What prison taught me about discounting
Founder of Brokepacker.com Kevin Lippy explains there are three types of discounting ahead of the website’s launch tonight.
A prison yard is a tough, volatile, dangerous, cut throat and an extremely unpredictable environment… Kind of like the Australian backpacking industry during low season. Read more »
How many backpackers does it take to change a lightbulb?
Thumbrella is conducting an exclusive industry survey this week, with just one question. How many of your customers are idiots? Read more »
How’s business?
So, how’s business? It’s a simple question, but it seems there’s no easy answer. Read more »
Australian backpacking is the pulse we watch to gauge the health of the industry worldwide
In this guest post, gapyear.com founder Tom Griffiths relects on the recent ATEC Backpacker and Youth Industry Conference and why Australia’s backpacking industry still leads the world.
Like most of the delegates I spoke to, I found the recent ATEC Backpacker and Youth Industry Conference extremely interesting and useful. It’s very easy in these current times to set a safe agenda to cater for an industry licking its wounds, who want to hear good news stories and see rainbows ahead. Read more »
McEvoy: ‘Put your tourism experiences on the map’
Tourism Australia managing director Andrew McEvoy discusses the first stages of the There’s nothing like Australia campaign and urges the industry to get involved. Read more »
The Cross needs backpackers to thrive
In this guest post, a Kings Cross backpacker operator who wishes to remain anonymous outlines the benefits backpackers bring to the Cross.
Lately there has been a concerted effort to push out the evil doing, backpacking “scum” from Potts Point together with various articles on your website and other media. Read more »
There’s nothing like Australia’s violence on tourists…at least according to Google
News in Sydney’s media of a young Scottish tourist who had been bashed by a group of youths in Sydney this week got me thinking, is violence in Australia towards foreigners worse than anywhere else or is it just because we’re here that we hear about it? Read more »
Vote Australia – you know it makes sense
If, as expected, British prime minister Gordon Brown goes to Buckingham Palace later today and asks the Queen to dissolve parliament, there will be a general election in the UK on Thursday May 6. Read more »
Morrissey was right – life IS very long when you’re lonely…
Last month I faced a classic publishing dilemma. When stories surfaced in the national press that a harvest work contractor in Bundaberg had allegedly sacked backpackers after they asked for water, my colleagues on the Backpacker Tourism Advisory Panel urged me to publish a story in TNT Magazine informing readers of their workplace rights. Read more »
‘Not polarising’, ‘not colloquial’, ‘defensible’: The scary prospect of marketing Australia
Tim Burrowes, Editor of Thumbrella’s sister site Mumbrella, reflects on the hardest job in the world – running Tourism Australia’s marketing department.
Running the marketing of Australia must be one of the most thankless jobs in the world. Most of your 22 million stakeholders are going to have a view on your strategy, and of course feel entitled to express it. No wonder there’s been a long gap since “Where the bloody hell are you?” died.
Tiger’s Tony calls for Rix to fix punctuality problems
It’s interesting to note the brief given to incoming Tiger Airways managing director Crawford Rix by group chief executive Tony Davis. Davis has made it clear that improving the airline’s on-time performance will be a key priority for Rix and frequent Tiger flyers won’t need punctuality statistics to know it lags behind its competitors when it comes to taking off and landing on time. Read more »
The backpacking industry must learn to cope with consolidation
In this guest posting, Adventure Tours Australia Group director Greg Zammit reflects on the implications for the industry of Website Travel’s acquisition of Backpackers World Travel.
The takeover of Backpackers World Travel by Website Travel will not really affect our group, but many businesses (large and small) will be worried that such a large travel agency chain will now be able to force them into commercial terms that push their cost of business up. Read more »