Captain Cook Cruises has launched AHOY, Australia’s first ‘ferry hailing’ app. The first on-demand route started yesterday and covers Elizabeth Bay to Garden Island and Circular Quay in Sydney for a cost of $7.50, much cheaper than a cab, Uber or water taxi. “Like popular ride sharing services, AHOY allows customers to locate their ferry, […]
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Accor CEO Sebastien Bazin says business travel down 10% long term
Accor CEO Sebastien Bazin believes business travel will “never return to the new normal” and that in the long term corporate numbers likely sit around 10% less than they were pre-COVID. Short term, until mid-2021, he estimates business travel will be down 25% to 30%. “Longer term, my expectation is going to be it will […]
‘Thredbo’ is not owned by anyone, says Federal Court Judge
The decision by management at the Thredbo mountain resort to own the name ‘Thredbo’ sparked a series of events that backfired spectacularly yesterday when the Federal Court determined they could do no such thing, ruling in favour of businessman Glenn Smith, who operates numerous local accommodation businesses and websites including Thredbo.com. Thredbo, which has been […]
Winners and losers in Tourism Australia restructure
Tourism Australia has announced a major restructure which Managing Director Andrew McEvoy says is aimed at boosting consumer marketing, improving online strategy and execution while giving TA a role in finding new investment for Australian tourism infrastructure. The restructure sees the departure of key executive Richard Beere and strengthens the role of marketing under Nick […]
Viator smashes it: big profit after years of losses
No pain no gain. That could be the mantra at tours and activities business Viator, which has staged an incredible turnaround over the past 12 months due primarily to the hard-headed vision of Dermot Halpin, who has shaken the company up and made it profitable – literally tens of million of dollars in the black – […]
Vail Now Resorts dominates Australian skiing with latest buy
Vail Resorts now owns three out of the five major Australian ski fields following its acquisition of Mount Hotham and Falls Creek for $174 million from Merlin Entertainments last week. Both resorts are located in Victoria about a five hour drive from Melbourne. Vail has owned Perisher, Australia’s largest and most popular resort, since 2015. […]
Sydney Airport to raise $2bn as business struggles with COVID
Sydney Airport is raising $2 billion to pay down debt and increase liquidity during the toughest period in its history. The company revealed that passenger numbers during the second quarter were down 96.6% over the previous corresponding period, contributing to a $53.5 million loss for the half year to June 30. Total passenger numbers for […]
Rachel Wiseman, Chief Investment Officer, NRMA Group
Rachel Wiseman was appointed Chief Investment Officer in November 2016. Rachel is responsible for the NRMA Group’s commercial interests, including corporate development, investments, partnerships and growth, public policy and research, community investment as well as the corporate legal and company secretariat functions. Before joining the NRMA, Rachel held the role of General Manager Corporate Development […]
New short term rental laws in NSW include guest and host bans
The NSW Government says unruly guests and bad hosts will be banned from the short term rental (STR) industry for five years under a new mandatory Code of Conduct it announced yesterday. It’s part of a legislative initiative which also requires that all STR properties are registered with Fair Trading NSW by June 1, 2021. […]
Highly profi table Stayz.com.au finally reveals financials
Stayz.com.au has revealed its financials for the first time. Australia’s most popular holiday house site made a profit of A$13 million before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation on revenue of A$23.1 million in the 2012 financial year. This makes it Australia’s #2 accommodation booking site behind Wotif.com and gives Stayz a whopping gross margin of 56.3%, […]