Let’s Travel Magazine: 50 Issues and Going Strong

Let’s Travel celebrates long and hard in October with the release of our 50th issue! Who’d have thought, those glasses of wines one night would lead to so much travel and fun, and so many new friends! Just shows you what the odd tipple or three can do!

We’re very proud of our achievements, but also need to thank our fantastic contributors for providing such great copy and photography each and every issue.

We’d also like to doff our hats towards you, the travel industry – without your ongoing support, none of this would have been possible!

 

• GHM appoints first local female General Manager , Deasy Swandarini, for The Chedi Club Tanah Gajah in Bali’s Highlands.
• The St. Regis Doha has announced the appointment of Rebecca Platt as Director of Marketing to join as part of their Executive Committee.
• Ngāi Tahu Tourism has appointed Wayne Paton to lead the ‘Big Reds’ as Business Manager at Shotover Jet.
• With the resignation of Marieanne Owehoud from TAT NZ, Tourism Authority of Thailand have appointed Angela Farrelly to the position of NZ Marketing Representative.
• The Sanchaya on Indonesia’s scenic Bintan Island has appointed Jared Green as DOS.
• Experienced aviation professional Daniel Debono appointed Wanaka Airport Operations Manager.
• Louise Clark is appointed to the new position of Queenstown Convention Bureau Sales and Marketing Manager.
• Shakespeare’s England, the Destination Management Organisation for Warwickshire has appointed Kate Varvedo as the new Marketing & Communications Manager.
• New appointments at South Sea Cruises include: Loretta St Julian-Ooms as Business Development Manager – Fiji; Lailanie Burnes as General Manager – Customer Service & Experience; Alyssa Field, currently Business Development Manager for NZ & North America has also taken on Australia.
• Auckland Airport has appointed Scott Tasker as its new general manager aeronautical commercial.
• Sabre Corporation made two new appointments: Axel Bench as Regional Director – Asia and Clayton Grant as  Senior Account Director for Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.
• Gede Agus Mahardana has been appointed to the position of Public Relations Manager at Bali Dynasty Resort.
• Kempinski Summerland Hotel & Resort has appointed Georges Mansour as  Executive Chef.

• ID New Zealand has announced the launch of a dedicated “Bespoke Journeys” team and a new online B2C platform idnzbespokejourneys.com to support their extended direct-to-customer service offering for premium travel in New Zealand.
• Australian tourism and hospitality group, Crystalbrook Collection, has acquired The Reef Marina in Port Douglas, to be known as Crystalbrook Superyacht Marina, and its intention to invest a further $100+ million into the Marina.
• Niue’s Government and the island’s tourism industry have launched a Responsible Tourism Policy, complemented by Tourism Business and Visitor Codes of Conduct.
• Boutique cruise line Azamara Club Cruises has entered into an agreement to purchase a sister ship to Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest, with delivery taking place in March 2018.
• NZ company has Mevohas secured investment from Z Energy to expand its fleet of on-demand electric car rentals.
• Victoria’s largest alpine resort, Falls Creek, has confirmed that a planned $9 million chairlift redevelopment has received approval from the Victorian State Government and is on track to launch by Winter 2018.
• On The Go Tours, the award-winning tour operator specialising in locally-led group tours and tailor-made holidays to worldwide destinations, have added Italy, Spain and Portugal to their Europe portfolio with several new touring itineraries.
• Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group is expanding in Vietnam with the signing of Radisson Blu Resort.
• Canuckiwi was recently named the inaugural award winner of the AmCham – DHL Success & Innovation “Contribution to Tourism” award.
• Mandarin Orchard is amongst the first hotels in Singapore to offer complimentary in-room movies on demand.
• CPG Hotels has entered into franchise agreements with AccorHotels for Hotel Grand Windsor on Queen Street and Eden Crescent Hotel. These properties will both be branded MGallery by Sofitel and will be managed by CPG Hotels.
• Sydney has welcomed a new hotel brand – Veriu Hotels & Suites – with the opening of the 64-room serviced apartment hotel, Veriu Broadway.
• Cathay Dragon has announced an expansion of its codeshare agreement with Shenzhen Airlines. Meanwhile Cathay Pacific and MIAT Mongolian Airlines have announced a new codeshare agreement.