From left: Miriam Curnow, Flight Centre; Frances Cebalo, Flight Centre; Penny Henderson, Fathom Asia

Andrew Laing, HOT Howick; Stan Bennetto, Korean Air; Peter Seco, Flight Centre St Heliers

The Korean Tourism Organisation in co-operation with Korean Air treated Auckland agents to a buffet dinner and seminar on new Korean
tour products recently.

A recent gourmet tour of New Caledonia not only highlighted the cuisine of the hotels and restaurants in the capital Noumea, it also took participants off the usual beaten track to see what rural life had to offer a travelling foodie.

Amongst the activities were a ‘Bike and Cook’ electric bicycle tour of Noumea, taking participants to such spots as the Noumea daily market and famous local patisseries. Participants then enjoyed a cooking lesson afterwards. A second activity on offer was the Master Apprentice cooking lesson with Le Meridien Hotel’s resident head chef, Michael Boussemart.

Auckland club College Rifles scored back-to-back titles at the 2011 International Sevens in Heaven rugby tournament played in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, recently. Seven sides from New Zealand – including four women’s teams – took part in the 22-team tournament which is one of the highlights of the Cook Islands sports calendar.

Visit Britain, together with Tourism New Zealand, took over Auckland’s Giant Rugby ball recently and lit it up with English icons in and out.

Pictured above: Tourism NZ’s David Burt with Ambassadors for 2015,  Will Greenwood, Lawrence Dallaglio and Martin Corry, and VisitEngland’s Alex Mawer and VisitBritain’s Laurence Bresh .

The best of New Zealand cuisine is on show at the 2011 Taste of New Zealand in Victoria Park, Auckland. Tourism Tasmania joined the Kiwis and set up shop to show off their delectable wine and beer offerings, competing with the top dogs in New Zealand’s food and beverage industry.

From top: Caroline Guthrie from Destinations PR and Troy Grundy, trade manager New Zealand for Tourism Tasmania.

Claire Ashton, Art News’ Tasmania competition winner, and Don Chappell from Art News.

British chef Gary Rhodes

The Wharf executive chef Justin Rimmer

Pictured (middle) from left to right: Malaysia’s high commissioner Dato’ Mazlan Muhammad, deputy minister Dato Dr James Dawos Mamit and Tourism Malaysia Auckland director Hafiz Hashim officially open the Malaysia Tourism office in Auckland

Pictured (below): The Hon. Dato’ Mazlan Muhammad and Hafiz Hashim

Following a series of performances in Auckland during RWC 2011 , the Fiji Police Band has earned rave reviews. The 40-strong Police Band’s performances included three daily concerts in Ellerslie’s Town Square, the Auckland suburb which adopted the ‘Flying Fijians’ during their tilt at RWC 2011 and appearances at Fiji community events as well as a special performance for students of Kowhai Intermediate School, adjacent to Eden Park.

Aucklanders escaped to a tropical oasis in their lunch breaks recently for the Pacific Showcase held inside The Cloud on Auckland’s waterfront. Held over three days in conjunction with the 40^th Pacific Islands Forum, each Pacific Island displayed their cultural offerings through performances, cooking demonstrations, products, music and art.

Pictured (from top):

Assitants Edwina and Madison serve up some traditional Pacific fare while chef Robert Oliver looks on.

Robert Au from the Solomon Islands Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Wilson Ne’e from the Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau.

Virginia Hayes from New Caledonia Tourism and Vanessa Marsh from Niue Tourism

Pamela and Ciara Christie from PNG Trekking Adventures

World Journeys director Chris Lyons recently returned from escorting their 33-day ‘Grand Tour of South America’ journey. Highlights included the Galapagos Islands and the Amazon, Machu Picchu, the Orient-Express train through the Andes, Buenos Aires, the Iguassu Falls and Rio de Janeiro. World Journeys warn that the August 2012 departure of this journey is already half full and a limit of 24 guests applies.

A group of New Zealand agents were given the chance to check out some of Hong Kong’s biggest and best tourist attractions recently.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), Cathay Pacific Airways, the Harbour Plaza Hotels and PC Tours hosted the group who experienced the Sky 100 observation deck and the Big Bus tour of Kowloon, as well as some perennial favourites including a ride on the Peak Tram, a visit to Hong Kong Disneyland and a ride in the crystal cabin of the Ngong Ping 360 cable car to the Giant Buddha.

Pictured: The agents are photographed with Lisa Lee, HKTB (second from left in front row), enjoying a class with tai chi masters Pandora and William in Hong Kong Park.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) Tourism Promotion Authority put their best foot forward during their first road show stop in Auckland recently.

Pictured from top (l-r):

The PNG team.

Kalyse Bradley, Vicky Ryan and Cherryl Browne all from Cruise World.

Lily Yu, Tiny Yan, Jeffrey Liu, Evelyn Lee, Vincent Li and Vivian Zhong all from Midday Travel.

Fergus Clark, United Travel; Daniel Bloomfield and Peter Moore, Target Travel; David Boyce, Harvey World Travel; Bob Devereux, The Travel Brokers.

Richard Ho and Yuk Lin Chow from Marco Travel.

Ann-Marie Whale and Fiona Reil; Cara Christie and Pamela Christie from PNG Trekking Adventures.

Lorelei Quinlan and Deepan Somaiya from Tandem Travel.

Tanya Babakova and Maria Nowak from Green Lite Travel.

Flight Centre recently held their famous Expo at the ASB Showgrounds in Auckland recently.

The expo brought together a range of travel industry representatives, from tourism board staff to airline peeps.

Pictured from top: Richard Elliot from Air Vanuatu; LAN’s Katherine Mason (left); Mike Hogan from Niue Tourism; and the team representing Fiji’s Coral Coast.

Two teams of Auckland Airport firefighters took to Queenstown’s Coronet Peak to compete in the inaugural Firefighter Chill Factor Challenge in a bid to raise money for the Bruce Grant Youth Trust. The Chill Factor Challenge, held on August 26, saw teams of firefighters complete as many runs as they could in two hours, all the while attached to a fire hose.

Pictured top: All the firefighters that competed on the day.

Pictured bottom (l-r): Auckland Airport team Tony Scott, John Buchan, Ben Jackson (Queenstown) and Tony Beattie.

The World of Accor hotel expo was held recently at the Pullman Auckland. Hundreds of travel industry representatives attended the event which showcased Accor offerings.

Pictured top (l-r): Andrea Mulligan,Philippa McCann and Sarah Payne, all from Go Holidays.

Pictured middle (l-r): Jill Grant, Kenneth Brown and Therese Brooking, all from A Walker’s World.

Pictured bottom (l-r): Elena Mironova, Chelsea Bell Whittle (Go Holidays) and Sarah Franks (Stella Travel) at World of Accor. For more pictures, visit our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/NZ-Traveltrade-Magazine/172255986177236

Travelport led celebrations at Flight Centre’s Global Gathering in Paris last weekend, which united over 2300 of the company’s top consultants and leaders.

Pictured top (l-r): The Travelport team in Paris - Kristin Gillies, regional account manager for Flight Centre Americas; Scott Slattery, regional account manager for Flight Centre EMEA; Bennett Woudstra, regional account executive for Flight Centre Americas; Caro Finlay, global operations manager for Flight Centre; David Moore, regional account executive for Flight Centre EMEA; Belinda Field, regional account manager for Flight Centre APAC and Fiona Ross, regional marketing manager, Pacific.

Pictured below (l-r): Greg Kitchen, business leader – global product for Flight Centre and Damian Perry, brand leader for Intrepid Travel join other Flight Centre leaders on a leisurely golf day, exclusively sponsored by Travelport.

Heritage Hotel Management hosted an evening of entertainment with door prizes galore at a screening of Jane Eyre in Rialto Newmarket recently.

Pictured (l-r): Graeme Back, Heritage Auckland general manager; Michaela Russ, Simpson Grierson; Ngaire Hooper, Simpson Grierson; Sally Ratapu, Simpson Grierson; Noel Dillon, Heritage Hotels general manager sales and marketing.

China National Tourism Administration dropped in on Auckland recently for their roadshow with rugby legend Michael Jones.

Pictured with Michael Jones is Alannah Manson from The United Press.

Tourism Western Australia and its regional tourism organisations visited our shores recently, travelling from Christchurch through to Auckland on a whirlwind workshop tour to update agents on the many experiences the state has to offer.

Pictured (l-r): Kerise Neville, Liz Murray, Stefan Brown and Gary Fouche, all from Flight Centre.

Visit Britain, in conjunction with Emirates, is currently hosting a famil for New Zealand agents and trade reps.

Katrina van Beusekom (l) from Destinations Travel Management and Adem Ozkan (r) from Mondo Travel Orewa, pictured here at a Visit Britain event in Auckland, both won places on the famil.

'World Journeys updated agents on luxury safaris with operator &Beyond, while also introducing new rep Chris Tinkler recently.

To celebrate their Cemars certification, Flight Centre invited friends for a few slices of pizza at The Organic Pizza Restaurant recently.

Pictured left: (l-r) Rebecca Johnson, DJCA; Claire Warner, Tangible Media; Eva Perrone, DJCA.

Celebrity Cruises hosted a night on the water at The Wharf in Northcote Point last week.

Pictured left: (l-r) Cathy Gibson, Karen Davies, Mary Shields, Tessa Daicers and Carol Jenkins - all House of Travel.

Visit USA showed the New Zealand tourism industry what it has to offer at its recent trade seminar.

Pictured left: (l-r) Gordon Bayne, Mondo; Tracey Austin, Pacific Blue; Mandy Veale, Mondo; Naomi Enright, Pacific Blue.

The Melbourne cast of Rock of Ages graced our shores recently to celebrate the musical's launch in Australia.

Pictured left: (l-r): Lisa Harris, Infinity Holidays; Jenny Andrews, Infinity Holidays; Stacey Nancarrow, Go Holidays.

China Airlines recently introduced its new Auckland to Taipei via Brisbane route by celebrating in style at the Hilton Auckland. The airline operates three A330-300 flights a week departing on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Pictured left: (l-r) Jo Wedlock, House of Travel; Justine Smith, Tourism Queensland and Jane Carruthers, Auckland Airport.

Complete Cruise Solution has revealed the winners for the P&O Cruises Earlybird Promotion in which travel agents were required to play an online game with each new P&O Cruises booking made. Steve Parker from iCruise was the lucky winner of an Apple iPad and Mark Smith from Let’s Cruise received $1000 cash for his efforts.

Pictured left: (l-r) Belinda Clark, business partnership manager Complete Cruise Solution; Mark Smith, Let's Cruise and Shannon Currie, manager New Zealand Complete Cruise Solution.

The Innovative Travel Company launched its 2011 Ancient Kingdoms Holidays brochure recently, together with photographer Lorraine Beattie’s Libya photo exhibition. The brochure includes Libya, Egypt, Turkey, Africa and Greece.

Pictured left: (l-r) Jillian Brodie, Amanda McAllister and Lisa Dorreen all from House of Travel.

Flight Centre celebrated the opening of their newest Student Flights store on November 8. Located on Victoria Street East, it is the second Student Flights store following one in Hamilton and the third will be opened in Christchurch next year.

Pictured left: (l-r) Flight Centre brand manager Chris Bain and retail leader Maree Hansen with the store's new team: Darcy Leach, Jennifer Denekamp, Jarrod Patterson and Heidi Janssen.

Emirates Melbourne Cup: The 150th running of the Emirates Melbourne Cup was held recently. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of the Emirates Airline & Group (right), presented the winning trophy to the French-trainer of Americain after the six-year-old’s impressive victory at Flemington Racecourse.