Opinion
- Blog: Volunteering with BlazeAid
  
  Jessica Riley, an Irish backpacker and journalist, shares her experience volunteering with Blazeaid on the clean-up after the 2013 Gippsland Bushfires in Victoria. Read more »
- Defying off-peak dry spells with group buying
  
  Rachel Beaumont founded Darwin Harbour Cruises with her parents and husband in 1996. She discusses the benefits of group buying sites after her experiences with online marketing company LivingSocial. Read more »
- Use it or lose it: the small scale accommodation survey
  
  Last year the Federal Government committed to re-establishing a program for our sector to track the performance of our sector after funding was removed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Read more »
- Fisheries set to bait sharks after constant stream of sightings, but is it the right thing to do?
  
  The Department of Fisheries is set to begin deploying bait after a kill order was issued yesterday on a number of great white sharks that have been repeatedly spotted over the holiday period swimming near popular beaches in Western Australia. Read more »
- Gen Y choose experiences over stuff
  
  Chris Ball, founder and CEO at AdventureHoney suggests this generation are more likely to appreciate the things that money can’t buy. Read more »
- Industry feedback requested for Sydney Expo
  
  Andrew Paltridge, managing director of the Sydney Adventure Travel & Backpackers Expo poses the question to industry folk: should the expo be split into an inbound/outbound event? Read more »
- Treating customers like this is unAustralian
  
  Travel agent Sarah Gohlke is unimpressed with how some people in the trade are operating…
  
  I write this out of complete frustration and an intolerance for injustice. Read more »
- Insurance rip-off…
  
  Queensland hostel operator Brent Gemmell is unimpressed with the constant rise of insurance premiums…
  
  What is happening with our insurance? As an industry we have been stung well over the top for a long time now. But this year we have reached new heights. Read more »
- ‘Australia must cut prices and re-enchant backpackers’
  
  Australian tourism operators need to get real and drop their prices, while the country as a whole needs to ease backpackers’ visa restrictions and improve its promotional efforts, according to travel writer David Whitley. Read more »
- From commissions to Koreans: ABiC debates continue
  
  After Sydney’s successful Adventure and Backpacker Industry Conference drew to a close last Thursday, operators took the rare chance of all being in town together to arrange an extra informal meeting to further discuss some of the burning issues to have arisen from the conference. Read more »
- Just a brainstorm in a schooner…
  
  Scotty’s Beach House owner Boyd Scott suggests that while most of the industry is in Sydney for expo week, it makes perfect sense to hold an informal brainstorming session on how best to put Australia back in the tourist`s eye. Read more »
- ATA’s tribute to the newly retired Ken Hart
  
  Greg Zammit from Adventure Tours Australia bids farewell to his business partner of 22 years, Ken Hart, who retired two weeks ago. Read more »

$1 million to holiday in regional NSW

In a bid to promote regional tourism in NSW, $1 million worth of accommodation vouchers will be given away to Sydneysiders this year.

The NSW Government and its tourism board, Destinations NSW, have launched a four-week campaign called `Make Some Our Time’ aimed at getting city dwellers into regional NSW.

Between July 18 and August 12, shoppers across eight Westfield centres – Bondi Junction, Parramatta, Miranda, Chatswood, Penrith, Eastgardens, Burwood and Sydney – will receive a scratchie for a chance to win a regional accommodation voucher when they spend more than $30 at a participating retailers.

The vouchers provide a $200 discount off any regional accommodation booking over $400.

The campaign is also bringing regional NSW to Sydney shopping centres through life-size, computer-generated simulations of regional environments and animals.

Augmented reality technology, similar to virtual reality, is being used to create interactive displays across Westfield Bondi Junction, Parramatta, Miranda and Chatswood.

People who win an accommodation voucher can redeem their prize at www.visitnsw.com by picking from one of the 650 participating accommodations across NSW, covering the Blue Mountains, the south and north coasts, country NSW, outback NSW, the Hunter, Lord Howe Island and the Snowy Mountains.

-AAP