New Melbourne-Shanghai services

China Eastern Airlines, one of China’s largest commercial airlines, will increase flights between Melbourne to Shanghai from four weekly to daily services.

Tourism Victoria Chief Executive Mark Stone said this increase was timely as China has moved into second place for inbound tourism to Victoria and is also the biggest international market for Victoria in terms of visitor expenditure.

China Eastern airlines will commence non-stop scheduled services between Shanghai and Melbourne from 20 June.

Melbourne the Local Tourists' Favourite

Melbourne emerged as Australia's most popular destination for domestic travellers in 2010 and has taken the mantle from Sydney, which is battling perceptions it is too expensive, a survey says.

The 2010 Hotel Price Index put the Victorian capital on top last year, with Sydney dropping to second place, Gold Coast third and Cairns fourth.

Adelaide rose three places to fifth, ahead of Perth, Brisbane and Port Douglas.

Darwin and Canberra rounded out the top 10.

Hotels.com vice president for Asia-Pacific Johan Svanstrom said domestic travellers had voted with their wallets, given average hotel prices rose 16 per cent in Sydney last year to $168 a night.

By comparison, average hotel prices in Melbourne were broadly unchanged at $146 per night.

"What helped Melbourne scoot up to No.1 over the course of last year was the particularly fast rise in prices in Sydney," Mr Svanstrom said.

"Clearly, when prices go to very high levels and are perceived to be high, people start looking elsewhere."

The news was not all bleak for Sydney, which retained its clear lead in terms of the favourite Australian destination for overseas visitors, ahead of Melbourne and Cairns.

Mr Svanstrom said talk show host Oprah Winfrey's recent visit was "ridiculously" positive for Australia.

While it would give the local tourism industry a boost, he cautioned that the impact was unlikely to be long term.

"Over this period say since last summer and probably spilling into now, you definitely have had a positive affect," Mr Svanstrom said.

"How long that lasts, I think you need to replace that with something else at some point."

The eight-year-old survey is based bookings made on the Hotels.com website and prices paid by customers and the sample size covers about 110,000 properties in 18,000 locations around the world.

(Source: Jordan Chong AAP, March 2011)

Four Australian Cities Rank Among World’s 10 Best

Which cities are the best to live in? It depends, but according to one highly regarded ranking, four Australian cities make the grade into the world’s top 10 this year.

They are Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Adelaide.

The annual survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit has placed Vancouver in the number one slot for the fifth straight year. Melbourne took second place, Sydney seventh and Auckland 10th in the list, which ranks 30 aspects of life such as stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, personal safety and infrastructure. Perth and Adelaide were ranked eighth, equal. Three Canadian cities also made the top 10.

A list of liveable cities is not the same as a list of favourite cities to visit, though there are many parallels. Factors like health care and education are more important to city residents than to visitors who may be in a city for only a few days and who have travel insurance.

For what it’s worth, here are the 10 most liveable cities out of 140 major ones worldwide, as ranked by the Economist Intelligence Unit and – just as importantly – the world’s least liveable cities. The latter tend to be congested, poor, dirty and dangerous.

Top of the list:

1. Vancouver, Canada

2. Melbourne, Australia

3. Vienna, Austria

4. Toronto, Canada

5. Calgary, Canada

6. Helsinki, Finland

7. Sydney, Australia

8. (equal) Perth, Australia

8. (equal) Adelaide, Australia

10. Auckland, New Zealand

Bottom of the list:

1. Harare, Zimbabwe

2. Dhaka , Bangladesh

3. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

4. Lagos, Nigeria

5. Algiers , Algeria

6. Karachi, Pakistan

7. Douala, Cameroon

8. Tehran, Iran

9. Dakar, Senegal

10. Colombo, Sri Lanka

Paris was 16th on the list, London 53rd and New York 56th. The most highly ranked US city was Pittsburgh, in 29th place. The top Asian city was Osaka (12th) tying with Geneva.

UK media quoted a statement by Jon Copestake, editor of the report: “Mid-sized cities in developed countries with relatively low population densities tend to score well by having all the cultural and infrastructural benefits on offer with fewer problems related to crime or congestion.”

Book World Accommodation at www.MetroStar.com

Sydney CBD Hotels (Tourist and Visitor Information and Events): Oprah Sending Domestic Tourism Up

Sydney CBD Hotels (Tourist and Visitor Information and Events): Oprah Sending Domestic Tourism Up

First Brunei Flight Touches Down

Royal Brunei Airlines’ flights between the Brunei capital and Melbourne have commenced, heralding a new era of direct route international travel.

Royal Brunei Airlines will become the 27th international airline to provide international flights in and out of Melbourne Airport, with the four-times weekly service providing an additional 118,000 seats for Victoria.

Minister for Tourism and Major Events Louise Asher said the new Royal Brunei Airlines air services would result in increased business, trade and tourism opportunities for Victoria.

“Victoria’s competitive position as a global tourism destination is reliant upon its air traffic capabilities. More than 76 per cent of Victoria’s tourism growth to 2016 is forecast to come from international markets,” Ms Asher said.

(Source: Tourism Victoria Edition 74)

Melbourne Strikes Gold with King Tut

The blockbuster exhibition Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, part of the celebrated Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series, opens at Melbourne Museum today (8 April).

The exhibition, which has drawn over seven million visitors in the United States and Europe in the past five years, marks the first visit of King Tutankhamun’s treasures to Australia, and consolidates Melbourne’s position as Australia’s cultural capital.

It will focus on the 18th Dynasty, a 250-year period when Egypt was at the height of its power and the “Golden Age” of Egyptian artistry - an era when Tutankhamun and his ancestors reigned.

There will be an extensive array of more than 130 extraordinary artefacts from the tomb of Tutankhamun and other ancient Egyptian sites on display, offering a glimpse into an incredible period in history.

(Source: Tourism Victoria Edition 74)

Tutankhamun exhibition arrives in Melbourne

A 3000-YEAR-OLD pharaoh has landed Down Under and Melbourne is his one and only stop.

The much anticipated Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibition at the Melbourne Museum is now open.

Focusing on the ancient Egyptian 18th Dynasty, the National Geographic exhibition displays 130 artefacts from Tutankhamun’s tomb and other related sites.

The 18th Dynasty spans a 250-year period when Egypt was at its most powerful and responsible for the golden age of Egyptian art.

The last ruler of the dynasty, Tutankhamun, died aged 19 after a 10-year reign.

The National Geographic Society’s executive vice president for Missions Programs, Terry Garcia, said Egypt’s ancient treasures were among the world’s greatest cultural legacies.

“This exhibition provides a rare opportunity to view these amazing artefacts and learn more about the life and death of the boy king,” Mr Garcia said.



Proceeds will go to help conserve Egypt’s antiquities and support the construction of Giza’s new Grand Egyptian Museum.

The exhibition is open Monday-Friday from 10am and from 9am on weekends.Bookings: visit kungtutmelbourne.com.au or call 132 849.

For Melbourne Accommodation, Metro Apartments on Bank Place

School Holidays Australia: School Holiday Fun in the Inner City MELBOURNE April 2011

School Holidays Australia: School Holiday Fun in the Inner City MELBOURNE April 2011

Sydney CBD Hotels (Tourist and Visitor Information and Events): Oprah's Australia Visit May Well to Pay Off

Sydney CBD Hotels (Tourist and Visitor Information and Events): Oprah's Australia Visit May Well to Pay Off

2011's tourism hotspots: What to do in Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne has been sidelined by the tourism bulldozer that is Sydney for as long as anyone can remember, but Australia's thriving second city looks set to reclaim the spotlight in 2011.

The recent series of new hotel and restaurant openings helped Melbourne earn a place on the New York Times 2011 destination roundup, and its fame was bolstered domestically last month with the news that it has overtaken Sydney in terms of popularity for domestic travellers.

High hotel prices in Australia's traditional tourist mecca no doubt helped, but Melbourne has been making a name for itself as a very different experience for travellers thanks to its exceptionally strong creative industries and arts scene.

Often described as more European by visitors thanks to the abundance of parks and sidewalk cafes, this is a city which has now firmly found its footing in terms of international tourism - so what can visitors do in Victoria's capital city?

Walk in the park - Melbourne is jokingly referred to as Australia's garden city, and boasts green spaces filled with rare plant species and neatly landscaped grounds.

Admire the art - With an art scene acknowledged by many to rival those of leading cities such as Berlin, London and New York, Melbourne caters for almost all tastes thanks to its countless galleries. Visitors in May have the additional bonus of being able to visit the internationally-renowned Art Melbourne fair (May 19 -22).

Shop - Melbourne's shopping scene is fairly diverse, but for the really unique experiences, visitors have to dig deep. Converted buildings, hidden basements, unlikely arcades and the city's famous covered laneways, home to many stores offering one-off items.

Eat - Melbourne's Food and Wine Festival, which occurs annually in March, only serves to highlight the city's incredibly diverse range of restaurants, which range from Asian imports to celebrity homegrown favorites such as Attica's Ben Shewry.

See the sea - Melbourne's beaches are most popular with sun-seekers between November and March, but even out of season they offer a range of watersports activities such as sailing and windsurfing.

See a show - Dozens of theatrical productions are staged each week in Melbourne, well known as the cultural capital of the country. International productions made their way to the theater district, where grand facades which would look more at home in London or Paris make for a classic night out, while local productions dominate the scene at the Southbank theater hub.

Drink coffee - Melbourne has become known as Australia's coffee capital, with plenty of sidewalk cafes to enjoy a freshly-brewed cup while watching the city's hordes of business people rush by.

http://www.visitmelbourne.com/