Future Air Travel
The future of air travel is set to land in Australia, with Uber announcing Melbourne as one of three global test cities for Uber Air. Melbourne will join Dallas and Los Angeles as pilot cities for the program, with test flights due to start from 2020 and plans for commercial operations to commence from 2023. Uber also aims to make the service available to users for the same price as an UberX trip over the same distance.

Northern Territory - hot 2019 Corporate Destination
The spectacular Kakadu National Park is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2019. The UNESCO World Heritage-listed natural wonder is home to the world’s oldest indigenous rock art galleries and is marking this year’s milestone with a jam-packed calendar of events.

The Mahbilil Festival which runs from 30 August to 7 September. This annual event celebrates both traditional and contemporary Kakadu culture and includes activities, displays, Indigenous art exhibitions, demonstrations of weaving, painting and other crafts, plus performances by local traditional dance groups.

Another celebration in 2019 sees the 90-year anniversary of the debut journey in 1929 of the famed Ghan train from Adelaide to Alice Springs. Since 2004, this journey extends to Darwin and the luxury train continues to inspire and deliver iconic incentive experiences. Ninety days of celebrations will take place through June, July and August, culminating in a special anniversary journey on 4 August.

Popular NOW! Micro hotel rooms
Hotels are going back to basics and downsizing their rooms to cater to overnight travellers who only want the bare essentials. Canberra’s Ovolo Nishi has jumped on the trend with their new ultra-stylish micro rooms.

Sydney: New Cinema
A new style of cinema has opened in Sydney in June - new Event Boutique. Sydney’s first two Boutique cinemas are The Library, with 28 seats, and Paparazzi, with 46 seats. The experience is designed to host small groups, providing high quality food and beverage offerings, designer recliners and footrests, waiter service to seat, state-of-the-art sound, bigger screens and world-class pure laser projection.

Thailand Accommodation
Ibis Styles Bangkok Ratchada has opened its doors, bringing stylish accommodation and meeting facilities to Thailand’s capital.

Newcastle bound
QT Hotel in Newcastle linked with Iris Capital to provide a hotel with 106 rooms, a boutique roof top bar and QT Signature dining concept and bar

Brisbane – Howard Smith Wharves
Restaurateur Jonathan Barthelmess, who currently runs Greek restaurant Greca at Howard Smith Wharves, has announced he will take over the vacant space next door to open a Japanese izakaya and bar.

New Zealand
A brand-new Holiday Inn in Queenstown Remarkables Park is slated to open in early 2021. The 182-room hotel will be located close to Queenstown Airport and The Remarkables Ski Field, and feature meeting facilities, a gym and an all-day dining and bar venue.

Las Vegas
Caesars Entertainment broke ground on CAESARS FORUM, a brand new 550,000-square-foot conference centre, coming to Las Vegas in 2020. The $375 million investment will feature the two largest pillarless ballrooms in the world, located at the centre of the Strip. Scheduled to officially open in 2020.

MCEC
THE Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) will be one of five venues across the city to host the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) in Aug.

Winter Glory for Tasmania Residents
Lucky residents of Waratah, Tasmania - one of Australia’s coldest towns. To limit the impact of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), AccorHotels staged a “Wintervention” on Fri 31 May, inviting the entire town to the Gold Coast for some winter sun, staying at the Novotel, Surfers Paradise. While soaking up some vitamin D, the Waratahians also enjoyed a number of GC must-do activities including visiting SeaWorld