Gillard calls on Australians to holiday at home

ACTING Prime Minister Julia Gillard has followed Paul Hogan, Lara Bingle and Baz Luhrmann in urging Australians to holiday at home.”There’s never been a better time for Australians who are thinking about taking a bit of leave to decide to take that holiday here in our own country,” Ms Gillard said in Melbourne yesterday.Her comments [...]

Australian tourism heads for freefall

FOREIGN tourist numbers to Australia are plummeting – even before the full impact of the global recession is felt – and there is likely to be no lifeline for the $90 billion industry from domestic travellers over the next 12 months.Despite the benefits for international travellers of a falling Australian dollar and improving conditions for [...]

Airlines sell off east coast seats

AUSTRALIA’S airlines are scrambling to sell thousands of empty seats on flights between the east coast capitals through the holiday season as forecasts of increasing unemployment put a brake on discretionary consumer spending.Throwaway discounts, unheard of at this time of year, are being dumped on the market for as little as $50 one way. Around [...]

Holiday Deals and Hotels in Australia

Australia is an immense country which actually occupy the whole continent that lies in the southern part of the Pacific Ocean. To this land where deported in the 19th century many of the convicted people of British Empire, so 200 years ago Australia has been a huge open-air prison! But the facts changed in time [...]

Kimberley

The Kimberley consists mainly of ancient, steep-sided mountain ranges from which the extreme climate has removed most soil except in the valleys of the Ord and Fitzroy Rivers in the southern part of the region. In these areas the soils are relatively usable cracking clays, whilst elsewhere they are lateritic Orthents. Although none of the [...]

Free parking as councils chase revenue

It is a serious safety issue for schools across Sydney – selfish parents, often in four-wheel-drives, ignoring parking rules and restrictions as they rush to drop off or collect their children each day.But the city’s councils appear to be ignoring the problem, with the vast majority issuing only a handful of fines for school-zone parking [...]

Retailers brace for Christmas rush

AUSTRALIAN retailers are bracing for a last minute rush as more than half of all shoppers complete their Christmas purchases this week.More than 60 per cent of buyers leave their shopping to the last minute and the main culprits are men, Australian Retailers Association chief executive Richard Evans said.”Customarily, men don’t enjoy Christmas shopping and [...]

Melbourne’s answer to London Eye is up and away

MELBURNIANS finally have the chance to perch 120 metres in the air and take a good, hard look at their city. But at $29 a pop for an adult, is it worth it?Operators of the Southern Star, the giant Ferris wheel at Docklands, are hoping so as the wheel finally opened to the public yesterday.It [...]

Vote for Australia in New Seven Wonders of the World list

AUSSIES are being asked to vote for their favourite part of the country for inclusion in a new Seven Wonders of the World list.The New7Wonders organisation announced an updated Seven New Wonders of the World list last year, which included the Great Wall of China, the Colosseum and Taj Mahal.It followed more than 100 million [...]

Domestic tourism takes a dive

DOMESTIC travel in Australia has slumped further and tourism operators are bracing for heavy losses as the financial crisis grips travellers.The number of day trips Australians took around the country fell six per cent over the September quarter compared to the same period last year, according to the latest National Visitor Survey.Australians spent 276 million [...]