• First Visitors from New Zealand in Over 12 Months Set Foot in Australia

    Apr 23, 2021

    New Zealand and Australia share a bit of a special and unique worldwide bond. The two countries in many and most ways are extremely alike. But there are also a bunch of sparse differences amongst our friends across the ditch. One of which is the hard policy introduced to stop the spread of Coronavirus. That one policy has stopped visitors between Australia and New Zealand for over 12 months. It has also separated families and halted business. But finally, in the early week of the 19th of April that border was binned. On the first day of travel between Australia… Read more »

  • Apple’s New iPad Pro and AirTags Are Travel Gamechangers

    Apr 23, 2021

    This past week Apple has held their April hardware launch event. However, the purview of what is normally a relatively low-key event was expanded this year. Apple’s event was so large that counter to Apple’s normal one or two products that they launch in April, Apple released or upgraded 5 products during the event. And that was not including the typical raft of mid-term software updates the company normally announces at their product conferences. What was interesting about this event though was two specific products that may revolutionise travel in multiple ways. The first was the new iPad Pro. Apple,… Read more »

  • Electric Vehicles Are Going To Change How We Rent Cars

    Mar 9, 2021

    A little thought about the aspect of the electric vehicle revolution in today’s world is the effect it’ll end up having on the rental car market. Once electric vehicles become far more affordable, we’re going to see the offshoot of what that means for this market. What it should mean is a much more cost-effective rental car market. But is that what will happen? The short answer is maybe. It’s not a great answer but it’ll depend on the change of government policy prior to the uptake of electric vehicle on a fleet level. Policies such as electric vehicle taxation… Read more »

  • The Wall Street Selloff Is Good For Travel Based Markets

    Mar 9, 2021

    Wall Street’s volatile market run is entering its second year now, with growth stocks suffering another selloff after the previous two severe trading drops since March of last year. But this selloff is a little different. The decline this time around is much deeper and is driven by rising interest rates. It’s also driven by the decline of COVID19 and the increasing pace of the vaccine rollout worldwide. That means that many growth technology stocks which have provided safe haven for investors over the past 12 months are beginning to feel real pain. Though many analysts and investors predict this… Read more »

  • REX Is Now Offering Domestic Business Class And Will Soon Open A Lounge In Sydney

    Mar 9, 2021

    Since Regional Express’ re-brand and re-structure last year the airline seems to be kicking goals. The airline has consolidated its travel routes and started planning on a frequent flyer program which is rumoured to have international flight partners. Most recently though REX has updated the layout of it’s Boeing 737s (many of which they purchased from Virgin during COVID19). And excitingly REX is now the third domestic Australian airline to offer a business class (after QANTAS and Virgin). Even more excitingly, because the planes which REX are using on the frequent routes are ex-Virgin planes, the business class seats on… Read more »

  • Why Is Victoria Hesitant To Allow International Flights Back In-State?

    Mar 9, 2021

    It’s no secret that the Victorian State Government are desperate to stop any further outbreaks of Coronavirus in Victoria. The previous outbreak ended up causing a circuit breaker lockdown which shut all business down for 5 days. A move that devastated some already hurt hospitality venues around the state. But moving forward the State Government hasn’t committed to allowing international flights back into Victoria, even though it’s almost been a month after that initial lockdown. So why is this? And it’s a subject that is indeed bi-partisan and far more scientific than it’s made out to be. The answer to… Read more »

  • Israel Is Getting Ready To Return To Travel After Successful Vaccine Rollout

    Mar 9, 2021

    Last Sunday (the 7th of March) Israel hit a massive milestone in their vaccine rollout. They will have vaccinated a full half of their total population. And the research that is coming out of Israel in support of those vaccines is extremely promising as well. Since starting their vaccine rollout almost a month ago, Israel has experienced a consistent dip in new daily cases of coronavirus and in deaths. But this is not the encouraging part of the research. Data supporting specifically the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine shows that the vaccines are far more effective at preventing serious disease and deaths of… Read more »

  • Where To Hold Your Next Melbourne Based Business Dinner?

    Mar 9, 2021

    In the years since the opening of the Garden State Hotel, Melbourne’s hospitality scene has by-en-large been dominated by either smaller restaurants or accommodation providers (like the QV and Crown). But COVID19 has seemingly changed that trend in a big way. In the months since Melbourne’s second lockdown two bigger CBD venues have popped up and both are getting rave reviews for different reasons. The benefit to business here is that both venues have extremely strong function offerings as well. In homage to regional Victoria’s extremely difficult 2021, renowned chef Alejandro Saravia has been working on an extra special 3-story… Read more »

  • Travel Voucher Schemes Hailed A Success After Allocations Exhausted In Mere Minutes

    Jan 29, 2021

    The Victorian Government’s tourism body Visit Victoria were the latest of tourism bodies to offer travel vouchers to residents of the state with the second round only going live in the previous week. Amazingly these vouchers (alike to the first round) were allocated to Victorian residents within 5 minutes of being released, which most public servants are claiming a massive success. The travel vouchers have been rolled out across the country with both South Australia and Northern Territory offering similar schemes to their residents and the voucher allocations being exhausted in similar record time. The vouchers have been snapped up… Read more »

  • Airlines Implement Vaccination Passports

    Jan 29, 2021

    It has been talked about now for almost a year, but the COVID19 vaccine is finally being rolled out. With that roll out the inevitable question has also been asked, when can international travel return to pre-COVID19. The answer is a complex one, but many airlines are pushing to make it a far easier solution than what was initially thought. Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Etihad have all begun trialling and implementing a new piece of technology to help that return to international travel. The technology has been dubbed the “digital health certificate” and was developed by the International Air Transport… Read more »