Australia is jealous of New Zealand’s brand strategy and has yet to “crack the marketing code”, according to Tourism Industry Association New Zealand chief executive Tim Cossar.

Travel Today reports Cossar noted the green-eyed monster rearing its head on a recent trip to Darwin for the ATEC Conference.

And speaking at the 10th anniversary of the “100% Pure” campaign, Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive George Hickton said it would be retained no matter which ad agency works on the account.

From a preferred destination to a most-avoided holiday spot – the downslide in the Indo-Australian tourism sector has come rather fast in the wake of the alleged racist attacks on Indians there. Indian tourists are cancelling plans to travel Down Under after watching the plight of Indian students there.

“We’ve just stopped selling Australia as a destination to our clients. We are instead asking them to go to Singapore etc,” says chairman of STIC travels, Subhash Goyal.

In March 2009 alone, as many as 30, 500 Indians had travelled to Austarlia. But that has changed now.

“We used to send at least 200 tourists to Australia in one month. It’s now come down to 40 or so. People are very worried about their safety and security. If it doesn’t stop, it will affect long term plans,” says another travel agent Inderpreet Singh Sodhi.

And while and even Tourism Minister Kumar Selja has cancelled her trip to the Oz land, the Indian Tourism Ministry is trying hard to play down the panic.

“We are saying go to Australia. These are isolated incidents. After all how did we project ourselves after 26/11? Things are fine,” says Tourism Secretary, Sujit Banerjee.

After all, Australians have been among the top five foreign tourists coming in to India.

I’m a pretty big movie buff, and a hardcore trekkie (nerd alert!) to boot. Last night, at the Sydney Opera House, J.J. Abrams and the cast of the new Star Trek movie had their world debut. The red carpet was rolled out, reporters were everywhere, but sadly, I was unable to attend.
Today, Hugh Jackman and the cast of the new X Men Origins movie are premering the movie at the famous Cockatoo Island, in the middle of the harbour – one of set locations for the movie.

So why Sydney? Is it because each film features a prominent Australian actor (Star Trek has Eric Bana, while Xmen has Hugh Jackman)? Is it because of the favourable exchange rate between the American and Australian dollar? Or is it because Sydney is truly a destination city, and people (actors and directors included) want to find an excuse to travel here?

Whatever it may be, Sydney seems to have been getting a lot of press lately. It’s a good thing too, the Australian economy needs all the help it can get, and showcasing two big movie world premieres in some of the most scenic parts of Sydney is likely to do some good. As for the movies, I’m excited to see both, but Star Trek – that’s the one I’ll be in line for on opening night. Yes, I’m a trekkie. And proud of it.

Are you just as tired of those hidden hotel charges as I? On a recent trip overseas, we found ourselves nickel and dimed to death. So I had a read around the net, and found that Andrea Bennett had the same issues as I, and put together a lengthy article on how to avoid these charges in the future.

(Travel + Leisure) — Shortly after its opening in 2006, I decided to visit the Lodge at Woodloch, a destination spa deep in the Poconos. Upon my arrival from New York, I discovered the property had no cellular service, so I made several calls home from my room phone, expecting to fork over little more than a dollar. Imagine my surprise when my hotel bill revealed a $7.38 charge for each time I picked up the receiver, despite having never actually reached anyone.

Read the rest of the entry here. It’ll be worth your time, I promise.

As the rest of us get up at 6am to start our slow and arduous journey to the office today, one lucky individual will have what will end being the best job in the world.

Queensland, Australia tourism is hurting. Despite having some of the most amazingly beautiful terrain and tourist destinations in the world, the world’s financial crisis is really hitting the area hard. With hotel bookings down sharply, Queensland’s tourism board is taking it upon themselves to fix the problem:

They’re giving job seekers the chance to get paid $150,000 (AU$) to live six months rent free on the Great Barrier Reef. (Good luck getting onto the site. Apparently this sounds appealing to the entire world.)

The successful candidate will be asked to keep a blog and photo diary in exchange for six months rent-free on Hamilton Island as part of a $150,000 salary package that includes return airfares and travel insurance.

Australians and overseas applicants must be willing to “swim, snorkel, make friends with locals and generally enjoy the tropical Queensland climate and lifestyle”. Sounds really hard, doesn’t it? Tough life. They’re pretty much asking the successfull applicant to do what many of us are doing already: blog, photograph, and enjoy the world around us.

Pretty tough, huh?