Indian Tourists Flocking to Australia, Says Report

Melbourne: Indian tourists are flocking to see beauty of Australia taking the total number of overseas travellers from the region to over 134,000 from January to October this year, a report said.

According to latest data of Tourism Australia, a total of 134,000 visitors from India visited Australia during October this year, an increase of 9.5 per cent as compared to the same period previous year.

According to its Tourism Forecast Committee report released earlier this year, visitor arrivals from India were predicted to rise by 7.5 per cent and 7.6 per cent to 1,63,800 in 2012-13 and 176,300 in 2013-14 respectively.

"Markets expected to experience strongest gains in visitor volumes in 2012?13 are China (15.9 per cent), Malaysia (13.9 per cent), Singapore (12.5 per cent) and India (7.5 per cent)," it said.

"This revision represents a difference of 6500 more visitors in aggregate. In the longer term to 2021-22, average annual growth of 7.2 per cent to 306,100 visitors is expected," the report cited while note trends from Indian tourists.

It said that average length of stay rose 20 per cent to 66 nights per trip while total nights in hotels, motels and guest houses and serviced apartments rose 17.2 per cent to 0.5 million compared with same period in 2011-12.

"Visitor expenditure is fore casted to rise 19.8 per cent in 2012-13 to USD 867 million.

In the longer term to 2021-22, average annual growth of 10.9 per cent is forecast to USD 2 billion, representing an upward revision of USD 354 million,"?the?report predicted.

Last year, Tourism Australia had launched India 2020 Strategic Plan which was developed to maximise India`s tourism potential and set a foundation for the future, when long haul leisure travel by Indians becomes more common. 

Victorious Australia Bringing Same Squad to Perth for 3rd Ashes Test

Australia will take the same 12-man squad to Perth for the third Ashes test this week after humbling England by 218 runs to win the second match in Adelaide on Monday.

Selector John Inverarity said in a statement that uncapped fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile and 12-test paceman Doug Bollinger would also be in Perth on standby and would train with the squad for the test match "should they be required."

Australia fielded the same team in Adelaide that thrashed England by 381 runs in Brisbane, the first time in a year that the team has been unchanged for consecutive tests.

Coach Darren Lehmann was reluctant to mess with a winning formula for the WACA, where their pacemen will hope to wreak maximum damage against a shell-shocked England side on a bouncy wicket.

"At the moment, all good," Lehmann said of his bowlers' fitness for the third match starting on Friday.

"(If they're) 100 percent, they'll play. If not, they won't.

"From our point of view, we've just got to keep what we're doing now. Not change too much. Just make sure we adapt to Perth conditions. As you've seen, we adapted very well from Brisbane to here, and now we go back the other way."

Australia lead the five-test series 2-0 and can wrest the Ashes away from holders England with victory in Perth.

Australia squad: Chris Rogers, David Warner, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke (captain), Steve Smith, George Bailey, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris, Nathan Lyon, James Faulkner.

Grease comes to Perth

Grease is the word in musical theatre land, with Australian producer John Frost announcing the popular show is heading to Perth and Adelaide.

The high-energy musical, which has already enjoyed successful seasons in Brisbane and Sydney and is soon to open in Melbourne, will head to South Australia and WA in winter next year.

Frost said he was delighted that Grease was continuing its tour of the country.

“Rarely have I seen audience reactions like the ones we have been receiving every night for Grease, with everyone in the aisles dancing and singing along,” he said in a statement.

“Grease truly is Australia’s number one party musical, and now I’m delighted to give audiences in Perth and Adelaide the chance to sing-a-long and dance with Rob, Gretel, Todd, Bert and the gang on stage.”

The musical is based on the 1978 film starring Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta and features all the songs, including You’re The One That I Want, Grease Is The Word, Summer Nights and Greased Lightnin’.

Leading the cast in the iconic roles of Danny and Sandy are Rob Mills and Gretel Scarlett.

The musical also stars Bert Newton as slick veteran disc jockey Vince Fontaine and Todd McKenney as Teen Angel.

Grease will begin at Perth’s Crown Theatre on June 21, 2014, followed by a season at the Festival Theatre in Adelaide from August 3, 2014.

Source: http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/20214229/grease-comes-to-perth/

Perth Predicted to be Bigger Than Brisbane

Join the crowd: Perth population tipped to hit three million. Picture: Lee Griffith/The West Australian

Perth will overtake Brisbane to become Australia's third biggest city in 15 years, population projections reveal.

Three million people are expected to call Perth home by 2028, putting fresh pressure on the city's infrastructure and housing supply to keep pace with the growth.

The capital's swelling population will almost double WA's total population from 2.4 million people to 4.7 million by 2040.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the nation's population is growing faster than previously thought.

Five years ago it had projected Australia's population could get as high as 62.2 million by 2101 but it has revised that to 70 million.

It is based on the highest population growth scenario of women having two babies and annual migration of almost 280,000 a year. Using its mid-range growth assumptions, the ABS forecasts the population will double to 46 million by 2075.

Under the same medium scenario, Perth's current population of 1.9 million is tipped to rise to three million by 2028 and pass Brisbane.

What makes Perth's rapid population increase even more staggering is that it will overtake Brisbane in just 15 years, even though the Queensland metropolis will have the second fastest growth rate of any capital city in the country.

Curtin University professor of sustainability Peter Newman said Perth should be able to absorb an extra 1.1 million people if it got the infrastructure right.

“We will cope with it if we plan for it,” he said. “Melbourne and Sydney are exporting people to Brisbane and Perth, but we’re just getting more of them.”

He advocates future housing development in Perth to focus on 8-10 storey-high buildings in sub-centres based around new and existing train stations.

Professor Newman said Perth was poised to become a global city as it becomes the headquarters for energy and mining giants in the region, which would provide employment.

But it was also critical to attract jobs in the “knowledge economy” such as software developers and university researchers so the city was not just relying on the resources industry.

Urban Development Institute Association WA chief executive Debra Goostrey said industry and government were closely monitoring housing supply to prevent a repeat of last decade’s squeeze that drove up property prices.

While new land was being released, Ms Goostrey said there were emerging signs of some skilled labour shortages that could slow down construction.

She also said governments needed to keep up infrastructure investment to accommodate the swelling population.

“It definitely has it challenges but for people living in Perth this is a fantastic opportunity to build a very vibrant city that people want to come and live in,” Ms Goostrey said.

New A380 flights from Perth

New A380 flights from Perth

Emirates the world’s largest international airline, is set to launch A380 super jumbo services to Perth from March 1.

According to Canberra sources the airline has slots approved for the 496-seat A380 to replace one of its tripe daily Boeing 777 services.

The A380 flight is scheduled to arrive at 5.25pm and depart at 10.30pm.

To see a virtual reality view of the A380 click here.

Emirates had planned to operate the A380 from Perth from mid year but delays in the installation and integration of the new aerobridge has put that back to March next year.

However, that A380 was allocated to Brisbane.

While the new service is slated from March 1 it may slip depending on A380 deliveries.

Emirates operates the world’s largest fleet of A380s with 39 in service and the airline had 51 on order.

But this week it ordered another 50 taking the total backlog for the airline to 101.

The Emirates A380 has 14 first class suites, 76 business class beds and a lounge bar on the upper deck and 406 economy class seats on the main deck.

At this week’s order announcement Emirates President Tim Clark said that the A380 “remains highly popular with our passengers.”

“It is still one of the most efficient aircraft to operate today in terms of fuel burn and emissions per passenger, and it gives us the flexibility in some cases to meet passenger demand in slot-constrained markets.”

One of the most popular features of the A380 is the quiet cabin and the plane is more stable than most in turbulence.

The Emirates A380s are mobile phone and email capable and have over 1500 entertainment options.

Emirates has been associated with Europe’s largest passenger aircraft since April 2000 when it was the first airline to announce plans to purchase the super jumbo.

The A380 is a major part of the airline’s ambitious expansion plans outlined by Mr Clark earlier this month.

“By 2020, we will have more than 250 aircraft serving some 70 million passengers across six continents. It will make us the largest airline on the planet by international passenger traffic,” Mr Clark said.

“However, being the biggest airline in the world is not really the end goal. Our aim has always been to connect travellers from around the world to Dubai, and other destinations with just a single stop via our hub.

“The strategic location of Dubai makes it possible for us to serve almost 90 per cent of the world’s population with non-stop flights.”

Over a third of the world’s population lives within a 4-hour flight from Dubai, and two-thirds are within an 8-hour flight.

Today, Emirates operates nearly 3,200 flights globally per week to 135 destinations in 76 countries.

The airline has 50,000 staff made up of 160 nationalities

James Blunt - Moon Landing 2014 World Tour

The Frontier Touring Company is delighted to announce the return of James Blunt to Australia in 2014., Blunt and his band will visit for a very special run of shows in May/June next year, with guests Busby Marou.

The timing for this exciting announcement could not be better, with Blunt's brand new single 'Bonfire Heart', taken from his upcoming album 'Moon Landing', peaking at #1 position on the iTunes single chart and debuting at #5 on this week's ARIA single chart! 

James Blunt shot to fame in 2006 with the smash singles 'You're Beautiful' & 'Goodbye My Lover' from his platinum selling album 'Back to Bedlam', one of the UK's best-selling albums of the 2000's. For fourth studio album Moon Landing, Blunt wanted to go back to sounding... like himself. 'I was playing a lot of ukulele - mainly because it makes me look bigger,' says James. He also returned to producer Tom Rothrock, and to working with just the two of them in the studio, occasionally bringing in selected musicians from the Back To Bedlam sessions. 

Picking up a guitar and writing his first song at 14, Blunt wrote his university dissertation on the music industry, took that guitar to the war in Kosovo, and always dreamed of making music, saying what success has meant, more than anything, is freedom. 'What it allowed me to do was go on tour with a band. That was absolutely amazing'.

 But it also meant much more than that, with three world tours, four number one singles, five Grammy nods (plus two BRITS, two Ivor Novellos and a host of MTV awards), a six-piece band, seven whole years on the road, nearly 17m albums and 20 million singles sales worldwide following. 

Bringing a full band with him for the tour and renowned for his charm and grace on stage, Australian audiences will surely be captivated when he returns for his first visit since 2011, playing songs from his highly anticipated new album as well as a collection of hits.

'There's just something romantic, old-school and lonely about the moon landings,' he explains. 'A nostalgic memory of something huge that we can hardly believe we once achieved, and for some sad reason, can't achieve again - like first love.'

"Goodbye My Lover was everything Sydney's jilted lovers could have dreamed of. His timorous demeanour whilst sitting at the piano worked rather well here, giving the hit song a raw touch and awarded him a well-deserved standing ovation."

- The Music Network 2011

It's an exciting week for Australian duo Busby Marou, with their new album 'Farewell Fitzroy' (out now through Warner Music) debuting at #5 on the ARIA album chart this week, they have also been confirmed as special guests for this Australian/New Zealand tour with James! Two years on from their acclaimed self-titled debut, Farewell Fitzroy is 12 tracks of folk-pop and country-tinged song craft, distinctly Australian storytelling, and the gifted musicianship of Tom Busby and Jeremy Marou.
"Marou's sometime-falsetto and Busby's earthy, clear lead vocals combine in heavenly harmony, and their guitars do likewise."

- The Australian (4.5 stars)

James Blunt is certain to make audiences swoon at these theatre shows and tickets won't last, so be sure to grab yours.

TOUR DATES*:

Sun 1 Jun - Newcastle Civic Theatre, NSW
Mon 2 Jun - Brisbane Convention Centre, QLD
Fri 6 Jun - Adelaide Entertainment Centre Theatre, SA
Sat 7 Jun - Royal Theatre Canberra, NSW
Fri 13 Jun - Riverside Theatre Perth, WA
*Ticketek is selling for the above venues only.

Dolly Parton Announces Australian Tour

US country singer Dolly Parton is returning to Australia in 2014 for a national tour. Parton will bring her Blue Smoke World Tour Down Under in February, promoter Live Nation announced on Monday."Australia, here I come again.

We have a lot of new and exciting things for the show and can't wait to share it with you. I love my fans in that part of the world.

You've been so very good to me for so many years and I know that we're gonna have a wonderful time," Parton said in a statement.Parton, best known for her hit 9 to 5 and her 1983 duet Islands in the Stream with Kenny Rogers, last toured Australia in 2011.

Her The Better Day World Tour! was lauded as her most successful Australian tour of her 45-plus year career after performing to record-breaking crowds across the country. Tickets go on sale on November 1.