Essentials this week… | Open aviation with China | Latest IVS | GBR TV series wins a ward | The World's 50 Best Restaurants | SQ campaign in France | and more…

Sir David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef Series won ‘Best TV programme’ in the National Geographic Traveller Awards last week, as voted for by the readers of the magazine. Australia was also shortlisted for best Long-Haul Country, the Great Barrier Reef for Overseas Attraction and Sydney for Long-Haul City. David Attenborough spent approximately three weeks on the Reef as part of the filming schedule, which took in Ribbon Reef and Osprey Reef and Lady Elliot, Magnetic, Orpheus, Lizard and Heron Islands.

Wine Australia is inviting the best sommeliers in the world to discover Australia’s incredible wine offering as part of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2017, being held in Melbourne in April. The World’s 50 Best Restaurants have partnered with Tourism Australia to bring the renowned event Down Under where world-leading chefs, restaurateurs, media and influencers will gather to celebrate the very best in global gastronomy. The overall event program and awards will showcase Australia’s outstanding food and wine culture to an international audience of industry professionals and food lovers.

Tourism Australia in partnership with Singapore Airlines, Tourism Northern Territory and the South Australia Tourism Commission has launched a digital marketing campaign in France. With fares from 1,071 euros, French holidaymakers are being invited to fly to Australia through one of eight Australian gateways with Singapore Airlines. The campaign also features videos showcasing the rugged beauty of the Northern Territory and highlights of South Australia. More information on the campaign is available at www.australia.com/singaporeair.

Tourism Australia in partnership with the Victorian Government has entered into a new deal with LATAM Airlines Group to secure a new service to Melbourne. LATAM’s new direct Santiago-Melbourne service aims to promote both leisure and business tourism between Australia and Latin America. The three-weekly service launching in October 2017 will be the first ever non-stop service between the two cities, reducing the outbound journey time to less than 14 hours.

Tourism Australia and Qantas launched the first phase of a new digital marketing campaign in the US this week as part of their recently signed $20 million marketing partnership. The promotion - ‘The best of Australia starts with Qantas’ - showcases Australia’s culinary and coastal offerings and aims to increase awareness around the ease of traveling to Australia with Qantas. Other partners including Aspire Down Under, Down Under Endeavors, Goway, Qantas Vacations and Swain Destinations have designed 10 special packages as part of the campaign. The campaign aims to tap into growth from the US market where visitor arrivals are up 17.8% and visitor spend is up 20% for the 12 months to September 2016.

Tourism Australia is hosting three media famils from Indonesia this month as part of the agency’s international media hosting program. Indonesia's popular lifestyle channel, MNC Lifestyle, will travel to Sydney with celebrity actor Ibnu Jamil and film travel content for several TV programmes including 'Holiday', 'Follow Me' and 'C-News'. Two leading Indonesian print media, The Peak and Harper's Bazaar, are in Queensland visiting Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Hamilton Island to showcase nature, food, coastal and city experiences. Nylon magazine is exploring Melbourne's urban precincts, showcasing the vibrant dining and fashion scene.

Tourism Australia has partnered with eight airlines in India for the ‘The Great Australian Airfare Sale’, to entice more Indian travellers Down Under. With return economy class fares starting from Rs 23,000 (A$450) the campaign features attractive offers from Air Asia, Air India, Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines, Scoot, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways and Qantas. The campaign is running across print, digital and television until 11 December for travel till 30 September 2017.

Australia was voted the ‘Best Country’ by Travel + Leisure magazine’s Indian readers at its annual award function in New Delhi last week. The accolade further confirms Australia’s position as one of the leading holiday destinations among Indian travellers. Australia welcomed 249,000 visitors from India who spent $1.15 billion for the 12 months to September 2016.

International visitors to Australia spent a total of $38.8 billion for the year ending September 2016, up 11% over the previous 12 months according to the latest International Visitor Survey from Tourism Research Australia. Australia’s Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, the Hon Steven Ciobo MP said growth across the three key north Asian markets of China, Japan and Korea had resulted in a $12.3 billion contribution to Australia's economy in the last year. Tourism Australia has updated its International Tourism Snapshot that provides a quick overview of visitor arrivals and spend for Australia’s leading inbound visitor markets.

Registration is open until Friday 3 February for exhibitors wishing to attend the official ATE17 Media Program in Sydney from 12-15 May next year. The event offers Australian tourism operators and organisations the opportunity to meet exclusively with international and domestic media for one-on-one appointments and attend valuable networking functions.

Registrations for the Business Events Australia Greater China Showcase are open until Tuesday 10 January. The Showcase will be held in Chengdu, China from 19 to 21 April 2017 and will provide Australian industry with the opportunity to meet and do business with incentive events agents and corporate buyers, and to gain insights into the China business events market.

Applications are open until Thursday 15 December for premium and iconic Australian experiences to join Walkabout South America 2017. The program, which includes workshops, business appointments and networking opportunities, offers the opportunity to develop and establish business relationships with product planners and decision makers representing outbound travel from Chile, Argentina and Brazil. The roadshow will take place in Santiago, Chile; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Buenos Aires, Argentina from Monday 17 April to Friday 21 April.

Early bird rates are open until 31 December for the Australia Tourism Summit 2017 in Los Angeles on 27-28 February. This year the Summit will focus on ‘The Future of Travel’ with a great line up of speakers including: Robert Thomson, CEO of News Corp; Chip Conley, Head of Global Hospitality & Strategy at Airbnb; Tyler Brûlé, Editor-in-Chief of Monocle; Wendy Sowers, Director of Product Forecasting for Boeing Commercial Airplanes; Brett Godfrey, Entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Virgin Australia Airlines; and more. The annual event brings together around 300 attendees including wholesalers, retailers, airlines and media.

Tourism Australia beach ambassador Brad Farmer was joined by Australia's Minster for Regional Development and Territories Senator Fiona Nash to officially announce the 101 best Australian beaches on Saturday. “As part of our latest global campaign push we are telling the world why ‘There’s nothing like Australia’ for the breadth, depth and quality of aquatic and coastal experiences our country has to offer – and 101 Best Beaches is another way for us to share these experiences in a very authentic and compelling way,” said John O’Sullivan, Managing Director of Tourism Australia.

On Tuesday Tourism Australia’s social media team shared the latest video trends on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram in a free webinar. The 30 minute webinar, now available to watch on demand, looks at the best performing industry submissions on Tourism Australia’s social media profiles and the results they created for businesses all across Australia.

Almost half of travellers plan to be more adventurous in their choice of destination in the coming year, wanting to explore corners of the globe that none of their friends have been to, according to new data from travellers using Booking.com. Travel predictions for 2017 from the data include the increasingly blurred lines between leisure and business travel, a more demanding traveller and a rise in independent travel. For more research and trends related to international and domestic tourism and travel, visit Tourism Australia’s Insight Files.