Not only has Melbourne just poured over 57 million pounds into 2 new tourists in the city to draw in more international family holidays but InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) have just announced this week it has completed a full transformation of the Rialto Heritage Hotel in the centre of the city which cost the company AU$60m (£26.4m). Not only this, but the new hotel is due to open this month within the next few weeks.

Melbourne is hoping to encourage more family holidays flying into their city for their summer holidays during 2009 and the city is already looking more attractive to its potential international visitors.

IHG say that InterContinental Melbourne is a hotel that is set to deliver a ‘new way’ to experience the city.
Based in Melbourne’s financial district within a building which is one of the few remaining buildings in the city that is still of the original 19th century gothic architecture.

The InterContinental Melbourne is IHG’s first every property based in Melbourne and has become one of the chain’s heritage listed hotels and resorts along with InterContinental Sydney and InterContinental Paris Le Grand.

The new hotels’ manager is Manrique Rodriguez and he said:

“Under the InterContinental brand, this hotel presents a rare opportunity to make the sumptuous mythology of Melbourne accessible to generations of discerning international travellers specifically seeking genuinely local experiences of each destination they visit. This revitalised hotel will be one of the best in the country and a flagship example of the InterContinental brand.”

Apart from other major tourist attractions that have been renovated and the new IHG InterContinental in Melbourne there is also another exciting attraction opening this year of the biggest observation wheel in the southern hemisphere, the Southern Star, based in Melbourne.

Two major tourists’ attractions are set to increase tourist flights next year to the Australian city of Melbourne who are close to finishing the new buildings which will be the Melbourne Recital Theatre and the MTC Theatre.

The combined budget spent on boosting tourism with the two 2009 attractions has cost AU$128m (£57 million) and are both set to open by 8 February 2009.

MTC Theatre will be the home to the famous Melbourne Theatre Company and the building boasts internal fixtures such as huge white cubes against a black background and holds two massive performance spaces.

The Recital Theatre is very similar in so much as it has a striking outside of a honeycomb of glass, concrete and steel.

The buildings were designed by Ashton Raggatt McDougall, who is the award winning architecture firm located next door within the cultural precinct of Melbourne.

Australia’s Tourism Victoria said;

“the new establishments will further enhance and develop the city’s reputation as Australia’s cultural capital.”

The MTC Theatre has a 500-seat stage for the Sumner Theatre. Included within the building is a 150 seat Lawler Studio and they are hoping it will help the theatre company to develop new writers and edgier works.

Melbourne is hoping that its new cultural investments will encourage more tourists and family holidays taking flights into the city. Melbourne has tried to bring classic and contemporary Australian / international theatre to its city to promote the real passion of the world class actors and writers.

The popular cruise liner P&O have just announced their first ever launch of new services that they are going to be providing within the state of Western Australia. This now means that their ship Pacific Sun will become the first ever cruise ship taking tourist and family holidays to the island known as ‘Christmas Island’, which is extremely remote.

This new cruise itinerary includes a 16 night voyage in Indonesian and P&O also intend to make maiden visits to the ports of Semarang, Lombok and Komodo along with the Western Australian cities of Geraldton and Broome.

P&O’s Pacific Sun will also be offering a further six tour itineraries from Fremantle in Western Australia and four tour itineraries in Indonesia which they also offer on their 2 and 3 night sampler cruises.

These new cruise programmes will go on sale on 15th December 2008 and will start operation from beginning of December 2009 to February 2010.

CEO of Carnival Australia who is in charge of the P&O operation, Ann Sherry, said:

“We’re particularly thrilled to be the first cruise line ever to offer Christmas Island. It’s a place that is rich in history and in flora and fauna, with ecologists describing the annual red crab mass migration to the sea to spawn as one of the wonders of the natural world.”

P&O Cruises is well known for its rich family holiday and tourist itineraries in their luxurious cruise liners which service many other regions across the world currently ranging from the Caribbean, Central America, Africa and the Mediterranean.

Those looking for luxury holidays to Australia will soon be able to be part of Australia’s top cultural celebration, the Sydney Festival 2009.

Next year’s festival will include a wide range of theatre showings, concerts, family activities, screenings and free events to Sydney, one of the world’s most famous cities, from the 10th January for the rest of the month.

The start of the festivities will be on 10th January, the Festival First Night. This is a concert that is completely free of charge and will mean several artists will perform on the streets of the Central Business District in Sydney, such as Bagarra Dance Theatre, Grace Jones and Santogold.

During the festival there will be several theatre shows, some of which are the stage version of The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe and the Anton Chekhov play Ivanov.

Travellers with families will not be left out as the events also include Music is Magic, a production by the Australian Children’s Music Foundation on the 11th January at the Riverside Theatre.

The 26th January is likely to be popular as this is Australia Day where locals will unite to celebrate their national heritage.

Reportedly, tourism authorities from Tasmania believe that a new film should boost tourism on the island, even through the film is actually a horror film about cannibalism.

The movie Dying Breed is set in the rugged wilderness of the Pieman River area on Tasmania’s west coast.

The film is in fact fictional, however, it is also related to the true real life cannibal from the 19th century, Alexander Pearce. The film was released in Australia last week and will now go on to show in major cities all over the globe.

Tourism authorities in Tasmania are hoping that a new film will boost tourism on the island, despite the fact that the movie is a horror about cannibalism.

Daniel Hanna, chief executive of the Tasmania Tourism Council, said:

‘Any film that shows some of our key parts – like the rugged wilderness – is going to be a good thing and will hopefully spark some interest. Obviously as long as visitors don’t expect there really to be cannibals in Tasmania.’

He added that the film does act as a showcase to display the natural attributes of the Australian state, however, he was keen to emphasise that the themes of the movie are completely fictional.

Tasmania is famous for its heritage sites, national parks and reserves and is easily reached from major airports in the UK via flights to its largest city and capital, Hobart.

When you picture New Year’s Eve in Australia, many people think about the press coverage that Sydney gets, however, although it might not receive the same amount of press coverage, Australia’s Brisbane can hold its own on the 31st December any year.

For those looking for luxury holidays at New Year but want an alternative to Sydney, then they should take a look at Brisbane where a massive 80,000 visitors flock to celebrate and welcome in the New Year each year with a festival of music, fireworks and fun.

The South Bank of Brisbane is the place to be as they hold a special fireworks display at 9pm for families and another, separate fireworks event at midnight for the late-night partiers.

The party is large enough to entertain the whole family for hours as it means you will not feel rough on New Year’s Day and you will be able to view the city in the summer’s heat.

In December, the climate in Australia is fantastic and for the Brits who want to escape the winter chill, Brisbane has great warm weather and sunshine.

Brisbane is great for those who want indoor entertainment; they don’t call Brisbane Bris Vegas for nothing.  There is a wide range of gambling spots and exciting casinos.  Brisbane can certainly hold its own versus its sister Sydney.

Australia and New Zealand both celebrate the Big Day Out with celebrations taking place all over both countries, with special celebratory events in large cities such as Perth, Melbourne, Auckland and Adelaide.

In 2007, many famous names took to the stage of the touring festival, including the likes of Dizzee Rascal and Bjork.

So far this year, the story looks no different as the months of January and February this year had the likes of the Ting Tings, Arctic Monkeys and Bullet For My Valentine taking their place behind the mike.

For those who are environmentally friendly and eco-aware, there is also the option to buy a ‘green’ ticket and carbon offset the day out.

However, if those taking luxury holidays to Australia want to book their festival tickets and spend a Big Day Out in Australia, they will need to book quickly if they want to take part as several of the cities, including Melbourne, a popular destination for holidaymakers, have already sold out of tickets, even though the event is not for another four months yet.

Many airlines run flights to Australia from major UK airports and for those lucky enough to take the trip, there are different places to plan a stopover mid-flight, such as Singapore or Hong Kong.

In the Australia state of Victoria, Tourism Victoria has published the latest What’s New – Melbourne and Beyond guide, which offers details of tourist attractions and products, as well as forthcoming events and happenings.

A new musical is due to open on the 10th December about the Australian cricket legend, Shane Warne, which should delight cricket fans.  It will open at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne itself.

In Victoria, the recent reopening of the Hepburn Bathhouse and Spa in the town of Daylesford was welcomed.  This bathhouse is reportedly the oldest in the whole country.

The bathhouse received a AU$10 million (£4.1 million) refurbishment with new therapy, relaxation, massage and private bathing rooms, a new building for three public pools and new state of the art facilities.

Another tourist attraction is Melbourne’s St Kilda Marina, which now has a model of the solar system in a billion-to-one scale that still stretches an amazing 3.7 miles ending at Sandridge Beach.

This model cost a huge AU$111,000 to create and includes a silicon bronze model of the sun, which cost AU$30,000 to cast and weights 55 stone.

Melbourne is also due to host the Australia Open tennis tournament early next year from the 19th January to the 1st February.

If you are looking at luxury holidays at the moment, it seems it’s all happening in Victoria, Australia.

Qantas Airline announced earlier this week that on the 20th October it made history by launching the first ever commercial Airbus A380 flight, which made the journey from Australia to America.

The flight departed from Melbourne at 11:15 Australian time and made its way to Los Angeles, where is was met by the mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, as well as celebrities Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta.

The Chief Executive Officer at Qantas, Geoff Dixon, said this flight demonstrated the air carrier’s commitment to its transpacific market.  He said:

“We have operated air services between Australia and the United States since 1954 and have invested significantly over our 54 years of operation to develop these routes,’ he added.  Today, we offer 47 services a week to the US, plus daily extensions to New York. In fact, we offer more services to the USA than any other international market with the exception of New Zealand.”

This Melbourne-Los Angeles flight is to be followed by another A380 commercial flight tomorrow, Friday 24th October, when it will fly between Sydney and Los Angeles.  Another flights service will be launch in January next year when they add flights to London, through Singapore, to their itinerary.

The Qantas superjumbo comprises four cabins; business class, economy, premium economy and first class, and altogether has 450 seats available.

The 2008 Observer and Guardian Travel Awards have named Sydney as the Brits favourite overseas city for luxury holidays, which is the city’s second award this year as it also received a top award in the 2008 Conde Nast Reader’s Choice Awards.

For the last four years Sydney failed to reach the top spot, being held in second place.  This year’s second place went to Krakow in Poland, which moved from tenth position last year.

Around 17,000 readers took part in the 2008 survey and voted Switzerland the top European country.

Second and third place went to Sweden and Croatis, whilst New Zealand was awarded the top long haul country, followed by Peru, Cambodia and Japan respectively.

Edinburgh was named the top UK city and favourite tourist attraction in the UK went to London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.

For the fifth year in a row, Singapore Airlines won the best long haul airline award.  Celebrity Cruises was awarded the best cruise line and Eurostar the best train company.

Perhaps surprisingly for some people, the top tourist attractions overseas the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and Iguazu Falls in Brazil were both beaten by Peru’s Machu Picchu.