Why Australian tourism needs to lift its game

We are constantly hearing about how tough it is in the Australian tourism industry.

About how tourists who opt to vacation overseas should instead holiday at home and boost the local economy.

About how small businesses are struggling and need support.

Well here are two examples - both from this weekend - about how the Australian tourism industry needs to pull up its socks and show both empathy and professionalism if it wants to win back our support. 

First story: Two visitors from Melbourne were robbed of one of their suitcases, which was driven from one city to another by the thief. Bad enough. 

They then had to spend the final day of their long weekend driving to and from that city at the request of the police - to identify and reclaim what was recovered. 

They told their story to the airline and asked if they could be switched to a flight home departing from the second city. Certainly said Jetstar, but it will cost you $400 more each to change your tickets.

So they drove another two and a half hours to catch their original flight. Next time they have four days to spare I'm guessing they might opt for Bali or Phuket. 

Second story: Two family members thought a river cruise might be a nice way to spend a few hours after spotting a roadside sign saying: "Next departure 2pm." Tickets were $55 each, including afternoon tea, but they decided to splash out. 

When they got to the ticket office they were told the cruise wasn't departing that day because of insufficient numbers. They asked about a booking for the following day and were told they would be called if there were enough bookings. They are still waiting to hear back - so they certainly won't be recommending it. 

It appears not to have occurred to this operator that if people saw his beautiful boat on the water they might be encouraged to take a cruise. 

And these are not isolated examples. last week I stayed at a city hotel where the reception desk closed at 5.30pm. And don't mention the cafes and restaurants that close at potentially their busiest time of the year "because they deserve a holiday too".

Tourism is now a competitive worldwide business but we are flagging instead of waving the flag. We are expensive so we need to be better. 

Time for some Australian tourism operators to lift their games? Certainly. Too many of them treat business like a hobby or a part-time endeavour. Other companies are simply not very nice.

The world's capital of wine: Bordeaux

With Vinexpo, the world's most important wine trade fair, starting soon, my mind flew back to my most recent visit to the wonderful city of Bordeaux. 

It is the world’s wine capital, one of France’s most beautiful and historic cities and famed for its restaurants. Bordeaux, a five-hour drive south-west of Paris, or three hours on the TGV train, is notable for its 18th-century architecture and is surrounded by vines. Wine has been made in the surrounding areas here since the eighth century.

The city is a UNESCO World Heritage site that has been reinvigorated by an urban restoartion program and can be easily traversed by foot or by using the quick and efficient tram system, but a car is needed if you head to the vineyards. 
 
Here you’ll find some of the most expensive red wines in the world; usually made from cabernet sauvignon, merlot, or a blend of the two, while the world’s greatest dessert wines are made in and around the hamlets of Sauternes and Barsac.

Even though some of the countryside may be unspectacular, there is a higher concentration of great wine names here than anywhere else in the world.

You will almost certainly need to make a reservation, or in some cases wangle an invitation, to visit the big names: Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, Chateau Margaux, Chateaux Latour on the left bank, Petrus and Chateau Cheval Blanc on the right bank and Chateau d’Yquem in Sauternes.

This is an area where the wines are usually long-lived and designed for cellaring, so quaffing is not encouraged. There are, nonetheless, several excellent wineries that do encourage visitors and offer informative winery tours and tastings. Among them: Cos de Estournel, Prieure-Lichine and Lynch-Bages. British-owned Chateau de Sours also welcomes visitors and has on-site accommodation.

St Emilion is probably the most attractive of all the Bordelaise villages and should not be missed – the Hosetellerie de Plaisance has two Michelin stars while Chateau Grand Barrail is a great place to stay and there are plenty of wine shops offering tastings. For more affordable wines, the Canon-Fronsac, Fronsac (try Chateau de Carles) and Cotes de Castillon appellations are worth investigating.

In town, Bar a Vin at the Maison du Vin de Bordeaux offers a selection of around 30 wines for tasting.

Where to stay and eat: Chateau Cordeillan-Bages in Pauillac (right) is a gracious – and expensive – boutique hotel with just 28 rooms in a chateau that dates back to the 18th century and is part of the Relais & Chateaux group.  The extremely comfortable rooms are surrounded by the vines of Pauillac and Jean-Luc Rocha cooks arguably the best food in the region  in the restaurant here. www.cordeillanbages.com. 

The Regent Grand, on the place de la Comedie, is among the smartest addresses along with the Pullman and Burdigala, while top restaurants in the city include Le Chapon Fin, Les Pavillon des Boulevards, Le Gabriel with river views and Jean Ramet, while there’s good value at La Tupina, Le Bistro de Gabriel and Le Bistro des Negociants.

Just out of town check out long-time favourites Jean-Marie Amat and Le Saint-James but avoid the area around the St Jean railway station, which can be unsavoury. 

Emirates growing at a seriously rapid rate

As someone who travels a lot, one of the questions I am asked the most often is: Which is your favourite airline?

If I'm travelling economy to Asia, I have a definite preference for Thai Airways. I like the food and the service is invariably gracious. 

When it comes to business class, Singapore Airlines has long been the benchmark but now the two Middle Eastern carriers; Abu Dhabi-based Etihad and Emirates from Dubai are serious contenders. 

There is a lot of interest in Emirates, particularly given its new code share arrangement with Qantas and on four recent long-haul legs I had very little to complain about (a couple of the crew on one leg were decidedly snotty and a lot seemed to vanish overnight) - but found the lay-flat beds and lounges, in particular,  to be excellent. 

For those who have not yet sampled Emirates do not expect an alcohol-free carrier featuring bizarre Middle Eastern cuisine. Emirates is as up to date as its gets, including multilingual crews; menus designed by leading chefs and complemented by palatable wines and an award-winning in-flight entertainment system with up to 1,500 channels. 

I particularly enjoyed being able to use wifi while flying - and it only cost around $2.50 to check emails and send a couple of Tweets. Expect more carriers to follow suite. 

The fleet of 198 wide-bodied aircraft is among the youngest in the skies and if you think this is not an airline on the move consider this: Emirates has currently has orders placed for an additional 200 aircraft, worth nearly USD$73 billion.

That's pretty amazing when you recall Emirates was launched just 18 years ago with two leased aircraft. In the last financial year it flew 34 million passengers.

Earlier this year the world’s first purpose-built A380 facility, Concourse A, opened at Dubai International Airport for the exclusive use of Emirates and its global aviation partner Qantas, connecting to more than 20 Emirates A380 destinations around the world.

And Australia is very much at the forefront with 84 flights per week to Dubai from Australia – from Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney. One service daily from Sydney operates via Bangkok. One service daily from Brisbane operates via Singapore. One Melbourne service daily operates via Singapore, with another daily service operating via Kuala Lumpur.

Emirates also operates 28 flights per week to New Zealand – daily to Christchurch from Sydney, and daily to Auckland from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. 

And good news for those who find it impossible to travel lightly. Emirates economy class customers can check in 30kg, business class travellers 40kg and first class passengers can travel with 50kg of checked baggage.

The A380s between Australia and Dubai, are, by the way, more comfortable than the flights between Dubai and Europe - with a lot more room in business class.  

For flight information and bookings contact Emirates on 1300 303 777 or go to www.emirates.com/au.

Dawson City: one of of the strangest places on the planet

Dawson City, in Canada's wild Yukon province, is undoubtedly one of the weirdest, wackiest spots on the planet – and a magnet for adventurous travellers.

The former gold rush city, a Wild West legend at the junction of the Yukon and Klondike Rivers, closes down for much of the year, buried under metres of snow and deserted by all but the hardiest of its residents. During the winter months most hotels and restaurants are boarded up; locals travel by skidoo, dog sled or on skis and tourism is virtually non-existent.

Then the sun starts to shine and this tough but fascinating town is reborn and visitors are once again invited to take a step back in time to enjoy panning for gold, sleeping in a former brothel or exploring the remains of once-majestic Yukon River paddle-steamers in a spooky ship graveyard.

The west doesn’t get much wilder despite the friendly vibe – and there’s only one tarred road; the Top of the World Highway, in and out of town. Next stop, Alaska. As the locals like to joke: “This isn’t the end of the world; but you can see it from here.”

Dawson City has enjoyed booms and busts. In the late 1890s gold was discovered and it was known as “the Paris of the North” becoming the second city in North America to get electricity after Chicago.

In 1898 it had a population of over 45,000 and was the largest city north of Seattle and west of Winnipeg. There was so much money in town that locals used to send off to London and Paris for Champagne and silk shirts; and women from around the globe descended to “mine the miners”.

Four years later the gold rush was over, although locals say there are still nuggets out there and hopefuls still hit the rivers hoping to strike it lucky. They can pan for free at Claim #6 on Bonanza Creek, a fast-running stream off the Klondike – and keep any gold that they discover. 

Bonanza Road, just outside town, is still dotted with gold claims and some craggy, wild-looking characters inhabit these parts. 

Despite the brutal winters, when temperatures plummet to -40 degrees Celsius, much of Dawson’s City’s original architecture has survived; leaving the city a living, breathing history museum. Many of the old buildings are unused but have been maintained in the way they would have looked 100 years earlier, complete with wooden boardwalks, colourful storefronts and believable fake facades (it’s surprisingly easy to try to walk into a business that closed over a century ago).

The township today has a permanent population of fewer than 2,000 people and replicates pretty what it was like to live in a sub-Arctic region a century ago. It comes alive, however, with a bawdy atmosphere during the summer season (April-September) with Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall, a wild west-style casino, at the centre of the action.

While the larger, more cosmopolitan (all things being relative) Whitehorse is the capital and commercial centre of the Yukon, Dawson City has a heartbeat all its own. It has all modern conveniences, including the casino with dancing girls three times a night – but walk 20 minutes out of town and you are in pristine wilderness with moose as your neighbours. 

This is the halfway stage each year for the toughest dog sled race in the world, the international 1000-mile Yukon Quest, which is held each February between Whitehorse and Fairbanks, Alaska, or vice versa.

Dawson City comes out of its winter slumber with the Thaw de Gras spring festival that features events including chainsaw tossing and tea boiling (did I mention that the locals are endearingly eccentric?).  The longest annual canoe and kayak race in the world (740 kilometres from Whitehorse) ends here each July.   

Many visitors come for the canoeing, hiking and fishing, or hoping to spot black bears in the wilderness of the Tombstone Territorial Park.

In summer, when it is light for 18 or more hours a day, modern-day Dawson City is known as “the land of the Midnight fun” because of the party atmosphere at rough-and-ready but friendly pubs like the Westminster, Downtown, Bombay Peggy's and Triple J. 

I managed to avoid imbibing the revolting-sounding “Sour-toe cocktails” – Downtown Hotel specialities that are garnished with real human toes that have been dehydrated and preserved in salt. I made my excuses and left, as the British tabloids say. My reason was that these “drinks” are actually a 1970s invention - no matter how tough the locals say drinking one proves you are.

Far more appealing are a cruise on the mighty 3520-kilometre long Yukon River on board the 

paddle-wheeler Klondike Spirit, a downtown tour with a costumed guide taking in the SS Keno (an old river ship pictured below), or maybe a drive to the top of the Midnight Dome, which offers panoramic views of the township, the Klondike and Yukon Rivers and underlines what a tiny speck on the map Dawson City is. 

Dawson City lies within the traditional territory of the Tr’ondëk Hwech’in First Nations band, and visitors can discover about their traditional way of life at the fascinating Danoja Zho Cultural Centre. Although many of them choose not to, you’ll learn how the First Nations people are still capable of living off the land with their incredible knowledge of local plants and herbs and their hunting traditions.

Other "must dos" include the Jack London Museum (which celebrates the life of the famous author) and a ferry ride across the Yukon River to West Dawson to explore the rotting remains of some of the once mighty paddle-streamers that have been left to rot on the riverbank. 

Air Canada flies daily non-stop from Sydney to Vancouver using Boeing 777 long-range aircraft with personal in-flight entertainment systems and offers connections to Whitehorse and 58 other Canadian destinations. See www.aircanada.com. Air North flies between Whitehorse and Dawson City, Old Crow, Inuvik and Fairbanks, Alaska. See www.flyairnorth.com.

The Aurora Inn (below) offers comfortable, affordable accommodation and is open year-round. It has an on-site restaurant, La Table on 5^th, that features some of the best food in town (the seafood chowder is excellent). Phone: 867 993 6860. Rates vary from $129-$209 per night. www.aurorainn.ca 

For more details see www.dawsoncity.ca

# The writer was a guest of the Canadian Travel Commission and was assisted by Air Canada. 

Norwich: An English gem with a strange Australian link

The English city of Norwich offers a delightful and accessible getaway from the frenetic pace of London. 

While probably best known for its English Premier League football team, Norwich City, this English rose is the most complete medieval city in Britain with museums, two cathedrals (one with the second-tallest spire in the country) and a Norman castle that dates back to the 12^th century.

The narrow, winding streets of the old city house ancient pubs, cobbled streets and half-timbered houses and a jumble of ancient lanes housing boutiques and trendy eateries (see pic below).

The River Wensum splits the city and the railway station, and visitors can take a boat trip from the station to the foot of Elm Hill, a delightful laneway dotted with galleries. There are several kilometres of riverside walks.

In contrast to the city’s ancient buildings, there are also striking contemporary structures including the ultra-modern The Forum (below), where the library will allow visitors free internet access) and the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts.

Norwich could once boast a pub for every day of the year and a church for every week. There are still over 30 medieval churches within the old city walls – and certainly no shortage of pubs.

Both comedian Stephen Fry and TV chef Delia Smith are directors of Norwich City FC. 

Norwich is the capital of East Anglia and county town of Norfolk. It may be a relaxed city of around 200,000 people today but during the 11th century it was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom. The industrial revolution saw Norwich’s influence decline, but it was in the city that many thousands of kilometres of metal netting were supplied to Australia for its rabbit-proof fencing scheme.

Norwich Cathedral is almost 1,000 years old and is surrounded by a 20-hectare "Cathedral Quarter" (the largest in England), while the castle now houses an art gallery and museum of history that focuses on local icon Queen Boadicea, who led a rebellion against the Romans.

For those with a yen for shopping, Norwich Market, first established by the Normans between 1071 and 1074, has over 200 stalls and is the largest daily open-air market in the country. It has been on the same site for over 900 years, while Jarrold is a traditional department store and the Royal Arcade noteworthy for its Art Nouveau design.

The city is at its liveliest during the annual beer festival each October (highly recommended), one of an array of festivals held in the city throughout the year.

Norwich is also the gateway to the Norfolk Broads, over 200 kilometres of navigable waterways that are hugely popular as a weekend and holiday destination. This national park area is home to several still-operational windmills.

The many pubs include The White Lion, which features eight rotating real ales on tap and local meads, the Mad Moose Arms, the 17^th-century Red Lion, the historic Adam and Eve and the Rib of Beef. The Maid’s Head Hotel offers 40 different wines by the glass and is reputed to be the oldest hotel in the entire UK. The Fat Cat pub is highly recommended for real ales, while Roger Hickman's is widely regarded as one of Britain's best regional restaurants. 

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Whether your choice is a slick Michelin-starred restaurant or a pub meal in front of a cozy wood fire, Norwich offers a fascinating mix of the historic and the sophisticated.

Qantas operates direct daily services from Sydney to London. To book visit www.qantas.com, or call 13 13 13. Fares vary seasonally but. Trains from London's Liverpool Street Station leave every 30 minutes and take around two hours. A car is recommended for exploring the surrounding countryside but Norwich is easily traversed on foot.

The Holiday Inn Norwich City is heaven for sports fans and is just a short walk from the city centre. Several of the rooms directly overlook the Carrow Road pitch. These pitch view rooms not only offer views of the Premier League action, they also come with high-speed internet access and flat-screen TVs. There is no need to sneak onto the pitch as I did a few weeks ago (below). There is a good on-site restaurant and bar (the breakfasts are excellent). www.holidayinn-norwichcity.co.uk 

Norwich Tourist Information Centre at The Forum is the official ticket office and starting point for guided walking tours of Norwich. Alternatively, take the Sightseeing Norwich bus, a hop-on, hop-off service that features most of the city’s major attractions. 

    

Taste the best of Tasmania - on the mainland

After the excitement of a hugely successful Savour Tasmania and Red Wine Weekend in Hobart, Tasmanian winemakers get a few weeks at home before setting off to show off their wares in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Even though a remarkable 60% of Tassie wine doesn't make it off the island, some of the top producers have managed to find enough to stock for Tasmania Unbottled, the largest showcase of wine and produce from the gourmet isle.

Tasmania Unbottled 2013 offers wine enthusiasts, trade and media the opportunity to try over 150 wines, many of which are rarely seen outside of Tasmania and this year's event will also feature complementary culinary offerings including cheese, seafood, touring attractions and, for the first time, cider from a number of boutique producers.

Confirmed events include: 

Tuesday 30 July - Sydney, Dockside at Cockle Bay Wharf, Darling Harbour

Thursday 1 August - Brisbane, Emporium Hotel, Fortitude Valley

Monday 5 August - Melbourne, Zinc at Federation Square

In Sydney and Melbourne, the public tastings in each city will be held between 5.30pm and

8.30pm together with a wine and seafood masterclass, featuring the iconic Tasmanian Petuna

Ocean Trout and Atlantic Salmon by Peter & Una Rockliff and hosted by a wine writer who is heavily involved in this blog. 

In Brisbane, the public tasting will be held between 5.00-8.00pm (there will be no public

masterclass in Brisbane).

A separate trade/ media tasting session will be held in each city, including a masterclass exclusively for members of Sommeliers Australia. The trade masterclass will focus on ‘Tasmania’s Unsung Varietal Heroes’, featuring a range of outstanding varieties and styles from the island, again hosted by your truly. 

In Sydney and Melbourne, the main tasting will be held between 11am and 5pm, with the masterclass at 3-4pm. In Brisbane, the main tasting will be held between 9am and noon, with the masterclass from 10am-11am. 

This year’s event will also comprise a range of surrounding Tasmanian wine activities including

feature winemaker dinners at prominent restaurants and tastings hosted by specialist retailers.

Participating Tasmanian wine producers include Bay of Fires, Barringwood, Bream Creek, Cape Bernier, Clover Hill, Dalrymple, Delamere, Devil's Corner, Domaine A, Frogmore Creek, Ghost Rock, Glaetzer Dixon, Grey Sands, Heemskerk, Holm Oak, Home Hill, House of Arras, Jansz, Josef Chromy, Moores Hill, Moorilla, Native Point, Pipers Brook, Pirie Tasmania, Pooley Wines, South, Stefano Lubiana Wines and Tamar Ridge.

Produce will be provided by Petuna Seafoods and Yondover Farmhouse cheese while cider participants include Frank’s Cider, Pagan Cider, Spreyton Cider Company and Willie

Smiths Organic Cider. 

See www.winetasmania.com.au/tasmania_unbottled_2013 for full details.