This week LATTE chats with Eamonn Ferrin, Vice President International Business for Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) to gain his insight on the Australian cruise market and trends.

Helsinki Partners, the destination marketing organisation for the Finnish capital, hosted Australian and Kiwi travel advisors on a city tour on the final day of Hurtigruten APAC’s first familiarisation to Norway, which concluded last week.

European Travel Commission (ETC) is reminding travel advisors of the suite of resources available to them as the number of travellers returning to Europe continues to surge.

Ensemble Travel Group is set to be acquired by Canadian-based company, Navigatr Group, after the parties agreed in principle to the acquisition.

LATTE is on assignment this week in Norway, courtesy of Hurtigruten, where we have joined a group of VIP travel advisors on the expedition and adventure specialists’ maiden famil for APAC sellers.

Austria National Tourist Office (ANTO) is seeking “creative journey experts” to attend a special trade event being held in Vienna this may.

According to the explorajourneys.com website and a 54-page digital brochure, LATTE can reveal the launch destinations in 2023/24 include the Mediterranean, Norwegian Fjords, British Isles, Iceland & Greenland, Canada & America, the Caribbean, South America and Hawaii. The South Pacific and Asia are not included.

Until the Aerotel Sydney Airport Hotel opens sometime in Q1 2022 within the International Terminal of Sydney Airport, you’re not going to find any closer accommodation than the Rydges Sydney Airport Hotel.

Housekeeping tends to be one of those topics often shied away from by hospitality companies and cruise lines. It’s the not-so-glamourous, yet essential tasks carried out every day, normally behind the scenes. Housekeeping may be viewed as mundane and not overly interesting, let alone “exciting”. That is unless you’re speaking with Gerald Mosslinger, Seabourn’s Senior Vice President of Guest Operations. Then housekeeping – especially since Seabourn restarted operation back in July – offers an increased level of guest interaction.

A series of innovations, refinements and enhancements now offered by Seabourn have been wowing guests since the ultra-luxury cruise line restarted operations in Greece in early July this year.

In 2019 when Virtuoso introduced the new Ultraluxe community, it was inbound travel specialist Southern Crossings that was invited to be the first on-site representative for the community in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific.

Smartflyer Australia, Goldman Group’s venture with Smartflyer USA and partners Brent Wallace and Stuart Reay, has reported experiencing significant growth in numbers and business rebound in the past four months.