17 Days of Delicious

Prepare your tastebuds all you food and wine enthusiasts on the Coast here comes 17 days of tantalising and the fun starts today at the launch of the Tastes of the Gold Coast festival.

The annual festival officially kicks off with the mouth-watering Magnifique Premiere event at the Sofitel in Broadbeach.

You'll get to see all the wining and dining the Coast has to offer, with more than 30 events scheduled over the next two weeks.

Today's Sofitel premiere has been designed to show one of the city's more luxurious dining experiences.

Room 81's head chef Paul Smart and restaurant manager Martina Minkner are the brains behind the drinks and dishes and will use an array of local produce.
The event begins at 7pm.

Sunday's Broadwater Street Festival might be more to your liking, It is expected to attract more than 1,000 people to Labrador's Marine Parade in one of the largest events of the festival.

The Tastes of the Gold Coast winds up on September 6.

Stella announces a major restructure

The tourism and travel group, now owned by private equity player CVC Asia Pacific, has been split in two and its debts comfortably refinanced on long-term agreements.

The hotel brands BreakFree, Mantra and Pepper have been separated from the travel operations, which include Harvey World Travel and Travelscene.

The hotel business is now headquartered on the Gold Coast, where Stella has a staff of 250 and its hotel chains have 3500 employees.

Current Stella Hospitality Group boss Bob East will remain in the chief executive's role, in a move he said paved the way for the Gold Coast to rebuild its shattered corporate image.

Mr East said the plan was to boost Stella's existing portfolio of 140 properties and create a major force in the hotel accommodation industry.

Mr East, who has been with Stella for the past three years, said there were 'many benefits' operating a tourism business on the Gold Coast, where almost a third of the company's properties were located.

"It's not because I like the beach," he said. "It is a different environment to Sydney. It is innovative and quite dynamic.

"It's the best place to run a tourism business."

Biggest International Visitor decline in 20 years

The Tourism Forecasting Committee forecasts the number of international visitor arrivals to Australia to decrease 4.0%, the biggest decline since 1989, when arrivals fell 7.5% after the strike by Australian pilots.

The current ordeals of the Australian tourism industry come more from the recent poor performance of the domestic tourism segment.

Overview
Factors driving Australian tourism The Australian tourism industry continues to face major macroeconomic headwinds, with all major economies already in or entering recession. TFC modelling is largely based on changes to world and domestic economic growth prospects and exchange rates, with initial results suggesting a sharp fall in international tourism arrivals to Australia and tourism activity by Australian residents in 2009. This section provides a summary of changes to the main factors (including economic) driving these forecasts compared with the assumptions used in the December 2008 release of Forecast, including several factors which will limit the negative impact of the global recession.
Click here to see the full report from Tourism Forecasting Committee.