SINGAPOREANS will have exclusive access to a new long-term, multiple-entry visa option by January 1, 2018, aimed at boosting business and leisure travel to Australia.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the Visitor (Subclass 600) visa would allow travellers to visit Australia for up to three months at a time, over a six-year period, with a single application.

During an official visit to Singapore Mr Turnbull made the visa announcement alongside Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, when he also introduced a new reciprocal Work and Holiday Maker program to start on August 1 this year.

“With up to 500 places per year, the program will allow young people from Australia and Singapore to undertake short term work or study,” Mr Turnbull said..

Last financial year, more than 230,000 visitor visas were granted to travellers from Singapore, up 16 percent compared with 2015.

“These new visa arrangements will further boost tourism and business links between Australia and Singapore,” Mr Turnbull said. “It will make it easier for people to come to Australia to visit friends and family while also enabling business operators to conduct regular meetings or attend conferences in Australia.

“These announcements build on the Australia-Singapore Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.”

www.vfsglobal.com/australia/singapore

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INTERNATIONAL Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney) staged its first international business event in January, catering for more than 8,000 international delegates in the showcase of the venue’s capability.

ICC showed its versatility in meeting the needs of incentive event the Amway China Leadership Seminar 2017, over a 13-day period.

Over 13 days, organisers utilised a range of ICC Sydney’s flexible spaces, including the extraordinary 2,500 capacity Darling Harbour Theatre, as well as the Convention Centre’s five star meeting rooms for breakout sessions. 

ICC Sydney CEO, Geoff Donaghy, said the Amway China Leadership Seminar 2017 was “a huge success for the world class venue” with client feedback praising ICC Sydney’s layout, capabilities and expert counsel.

“It’s showtime at ICC Sydney and Amway China has helped us kick off the year with style and substance,” Mr Donaghy said.

“We have had great feedback from the organisers who were thrilled with our ability to support a range of event types within the overall program. For instance, Darling Harbour Theatre, which is also a performance space, became the perfect setting for large-scale presentations, while our Grand Ballroom – within the Convention Centre itself – provided the ideal location for each 2,000-person banquet.

“We are delivering a paradigm shift in the way that business events are run by providing the ultimate in quality, choice and flexibility for the world’s leaders and thinkers to meet, collaborate and innovate.

“With 500 bookings already secured, it’s clear that our industry leading proposition is making an impact,” Mr Donaghy said.

He said according to post-event surveys, delegates loved the gourmet Chinese sharing banquet provided, which was designed in line with ICC Sydney’s industry-first Feeding Your Performance philosophy. Dishes featured fresh, seasonal and locally sourced ingredients, expertly combined to drive physical and mental performance. Guests were also impressed with the courtesy and efficiency of staff, and their friendly manner, which put first-time visitors at ease.

Associate director of AV and events production for Amway China, Bert Li, said ICC Sydney’s staff and facilities delivered on expectations across the board.

“Every event comes with its own opportunities and complexities,” Mr Li said. “From developing specific bi-lingual signage and providing exclusive routes through the precinct, to creating dishes that mirrored our guests’ tastes, every detail was anticipated and delivered to a five star standard.

“I’m pleased to say that the Amway China Leadership Seminar 2017 was a triumph thanks to a trifecta of best in class facilities, flexible spaces and most importantly, an expert team that was easy to deal with and quickly addressed our every need.”

The event, which saw delegates arrive in four groups, also took advantage of many of Sydney’s key attractions and hotels including Luna Park, Sydney BridgeClimb, Sheraton on the Park, The Star, Sydney Tower Restaurant, Captain Cook Cruises, and Sydney Opera House.

Organisers cited the precinct’s stellar audio visual equipment as essential to delivering ‘next-level’ presentations, and its remarkable 10Gbps optical fibre backbone and precinct-wide connectivity, in supporting a seamless experience.

The event also offered VIP visitors the chance to explore the broader precinct, with The Hunger Games: The Exhibition and Brickman Wonders of the World Exhibition, both concurrently held in the venue’s exhibition halls.

Business Events Sydney CEO, Lyn Lewis-Smith, whose company that secured the event for Sydney, said the precinct underpins Sydney’s reputation as one of the world’s most desirable business meeting destinations.

“As the centrepiece of the AU$3.4 billion, 20-hectare transformation of Darling Harbour, ICC Sydney has generated huge interest from international organisations and played a significant role in Amway China’s decision to return to Sydney for a third time,” Ms Lewis-Smith said.

“In the past decade we have seen 20 percent year-on-year growth from the highly lucrative Asian incentive market. ICC Sydney will drive this further, and deliver major cultural and economic benefits.”

Officially launched in December 2016, ICC Sydney is expected to inject an estimated $5 billion in to the NSW economy over the next 25 years.

www.iccsydney.com

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THE official launch of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017 took place at the International Tourism Fair of Spain, FITUR, in January.

The event, before more than 600 international travel and tourism industry leaders, kicked off 12 months of global actions aimed at advancing sustainable tourism contribution to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Co-presented by Max Forster, CNN, and Raquel Martínez, RTVE, the launch event underlined “the immense socio-economic opportunities brought by the sector to all societies as well as its power to advocate for mutual understanding, peace and sustainable development worldwide” according to United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres.

“Every day, more than three million tourists cross international borders. Every year, almost 1.2 billion people travel abroad,” Mr Guterres said.

“Tourism has become a pillar of economies, a passport to prosperity, and a transformative force for improving millions of lives. The world can and must harness the power of tourism as we strive to carry out the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

The event also marked the launch of the International Year campaign ‘Travel.Enjoy.Respect’, aimed at promoting sustainable tourism among travellers, in partnership with CNN and RTVE. 

At FITUR, UNWTO also announced the ambassadors of the International Year: President of Liberia HE Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; HM King Simeon II; UnionPay president Huayong Ge; Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization president Talal Abu Ghazaleh; and , and Federal Association of the German Tourism Industry president Michael Frenzel.

UNWTO Secretary General, Taleb Rifai said, “2017 is a unique opportunity for us to promote the contribution of tourism to achieving the future we want – and also to determine, together, the exact role we will have tourism play in the sustainable development agenda, to and beyond 2030. A unique opportunity to ensure that tourism is a pillar in achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain, Alfonso María Dastis said, “The 2030 Agenda considers sustainable tourism as a vector of development, job creation and the promotion of local culture and products. Tourism is part of the Sustainable Development Goals and contributes decisively to almost all 17 Goals through its impacts on fighting poverty, promoting decent jobs, improving gender equality and the livelihoods of young people or the fight against climate change.”

Also addressing the ceremony were high representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, assistant director-general for culture at UNESCO Francesco Bandarin, and European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Elzbieta Bienkowska. 

Sponsors of the International Year:

Official Sponsors of the international year includeANA, Balearic Islands, Global Tourism Economy Research Centre, Minube, Amadeus, Chimelong, Ras Al Khaimah, Ministry of Tourism of Colombia, Ministry of Tourism of Morocco, and IFEMA/FITUR

Diamond sponsors are theMinistry of Tourism of Mexico, Georgian National Tourism Board, Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan, The Travel Corporation, Capital Airlines, Eventísimo and Mastercard.

Gold sponsors are theGerman National Tourism Board (DZT), Turismo de Portugal, Valencian Tourist Agency, Catalunya Tourist Board, Global Geoparks Network, University of Applied Sciences HTW Chur – Institute of Tourism and Leisure and Intercontinental Hotels Group

Silver sponsors areJTB Corp and South Pole Group, while media partners are CNN, RTVE and Travel Weekly.

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NEW RESEARCH into Australian business travel trends has found Australian organisations are asking staff to travel more frequently, and farther afield, than any time in the past.

Business travel systems and technology group, Concur’s business development manager, Murray Warner, put it down to increased globalisation “and the distance between Australia and the rest of the world, as well as the vast distances between Australian cities”. 

“Despite technological advances that make it easier for workers to collaborate across long distances, nothing replaces face-to-face contact,” Mr Warner said. “We’re seeing organisations invest heavily in putting people in the same room.

“Last year alone, Australian businesses spent more than $1.7 billion on airfares, hotels, dining and entertainment, and ground transportation, “ he said, based on the Concur State of Business Travel 2016 report

“This trend is unlikely to slow down as Australian businesses continue to face stiff competition from local and overseas players in almost every industry. They must do what it takes to shore up existing business and attract new customers and suppliers.

“As a result, we’re likely to see the business travel industry continue to expand in 2017 in a number of key ways.”

According to Concur, four key business travel trends are set to emerge in 2017:

Increased travel overseas

The 2016 Concur ANZ Spend Management Index found the vast majority of respondents (78 percent) travel interstate and to New Zealand. A further 20 percent also travel to North America, Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, and the Middle East. The trend towards overseas travel is set to significantly increase as more companies expand into new global markets. 80 percent of internationally-active Australian businesses are expecting to branch out into overseas markets in the next two years, according to the 2015 report by Finsia. Asia is becoming a key Australian hub for many businesses.

Increased use of the sharing economy

Qantas and Airbnb recently joined forces, letting Qantas members earn points when they stay at an Airbnb property. Business travellers are increasingly being drawn to using Airbnb. They seek the ‘comforts’ of home when travelling and enjoy mingling with the locals and exploring the different cultures this way. It adds a personal element to the ‘business’ travel. The online reviews offer  the transparency that travellers seek, so travellers know what to expect before they book.  This is expected to affect the business travel sector since hotels that traditionally targeted business travellers may need to consider attracting a new type of clientele.

The demise of ‘bleisure’

The 2016 Concur ANZ Spend Management Index also found only 23 percent of respondents actually extend their work trips with holidays, despite previous trends to the contrary.

 “This is likely to continue in 2017 as more people try to really separate work from leisure to better balance their work/life commitments,” Mr Warner said. “This is good news for organisations, since it removes the need to separate work- and holiday-related expenses in an employee’s reimbursement claim, while also reducing the chance that an employee will, mistakenly or otherwise, use their corporate credit card for personal holiday expenses.”

Duty of care

Risk management takes on new meaning when it comes to travelling employees. Organisations have a duty of care. They need to know where employees are at all times and be able to contact them in case of emergency. This is particularly crucial in cases where travellers are staying in Airbnb properties and not in company approved hotels.

 “Smart organisations are introducing new policies regarding safer travel, and are implementing new technologies to enable these policies,” Mr Warner said. “One example is Concur’s Risk Messaging, which identifies travellers’ global locations and lets the company contact them instantly via text message to deliver safety warnings, to confirm whether they are safe in an emergency situation, or to orchestrate their evacuation if necessary.”

www.concur.com

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