DARWIN LAKSA FESTIVAL Business

FOR THE LOVE OF LAKSA

About 3000 people attended the Laksa Festival in Darwin in late November. And 3600 downloaded a special Food Tour app and voted for what they considered the best of 69 featured dishes to determine the People’s Choice winner on festival day. Festival organisers secretly sent out a team of “ninjas” to taste the dishes to determine the top...

Wallaroo Tours Business

PRESERVE, PROMOTE AND PROTECT

“Prohibiting tourists isn’t the answer. Education and understanding the creatures and their environment is,” says barefooted Pat “Croc Dundee” Chappell. For the past seven years, Pat has been educating people about how to preserve, promote and protect crocodiles and other creatures that inhabit the Adelaide River ecosystem, and what...

DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRY, TOURISM AND TRADE Business

TOURISM TAKES RECOVERY ROAD

The $4 million package will help improve wayside inns and roadhouses as the NT grows the all-important tourism drive market. Caravan parks may apply if they meet the eligibility criteria. It closes on 14 January 2021 and recipients will be confirmed in February-March. The grant program will help businesses carry out infrastructure projects...

Tourism NT Business

VEEP’S THE WORD

The buzzword in the Northern Territory’s crucially important tourism industry is VEEP. It stands for Visitor Experience Enhancement Program, a Territory Government initiative to help tourist operators improve the on-ground experience for visitors. The program is enormously popular. It has helped businesses in a myriad of practical ways –...

Katherine Outback Experience Issue 28

GREAT EXPERIENCE

“We thought we had all bases covered with tourism in the dry season and a national touring show during the Territory’s wet season. Never in our wildest dreams had we factored in a total nationwide lockdown,” says founders Tom and Annabel Curtain. With numerous animals to feed daily and keeping staff employed, they’ve scarcely...

Katherine Issue 28

TERRITORY’S SECRET GEM

Ever since Katherine was named by explorer John McDouall Stuart in 1862, it has attracted a range of people that have much in common — they’re full of energy, passionate and optimistic about their region and its bright future. Through the diversity and struggles of the Second World War, four devastating floods (1957, 1974, 1998 and 2006)...

Oasis Tourist Park Business

BEN’S OASIS

Since taking ownership, Ben Reichstein has upgraded the Oasis Tourist Park, which sits in a beautiful tropical setting just off the Stuart Highway in Virginia, on the outskirts of Darwin. The location – a sanctuary close to Darwin and on the road to Kakadu and Litchfield national parks – coupled with great facilities and a friendly...

OUTBACK CYCLING and ALICE SPRINGS BREWERY Business

BIKING AND BEER A MATCH MADE IN ALICE

Two Alice Springs companies are offering both as part of an innovative package born out of the coronavirus crisis. Outback Cycling and Alice Springs Brewery have got together to organise a bike ride to one of the most remote breweries in the world – where guests will be given a tour and be able to tuck into pizza amid good company. “There...

CORROBOREE BILLABONG WETLAND CRUISES Issue 28

HOLIDAY AT HOME

NT tourist businesses want Territorians to spend their money where their heart is – in the Territory. Restrictions on overseas and interstate travel make it an ideal time to explore our own big, beautiful backyard. To support this, Tourism NT has announced a $5.225 million Territory Tourism Voucher scheme to encourage Territorians to explore...

Doubletree by Hilton Alice Springs Business

DOUBLETREE BY HILTON – IT’S BETTER THAN EVER

Designed by CIRCA 2000, all 236 guest rooms and suites have been transformed with DoubleTree Sweet Dreams™ Sleep Experience beds, upholstered contemporary lounges, dining and balcony furniture, new ergonomic office desks and chairs, high-quality Italian fabric block out and sheer curtains, adjustable LED lighting and Australian-made high pile...

Travel Issue 26

THE JEWEL TO OUR NORTH

Best of all, its genuine friendliness and breathtaking beauty is just an 80-minute flight from Darwin. Timor Leste is a country bursting with tourism plans and very few tourists, which in my eyes makes it the perfect destination. Its capital, Dili, is nestled on the coast, surrounded by storybook mountains and sparkling clear seas. Like my...

Travel Issue 25

RIDING WITH RAILWAY ROYALTY

But this time we hadn’t even got out of the station before a bloke in a loud shirt said cheerfully: “Wonder who’s going to be murdered tonight?” My kids seemed disappointed when I told them that the man was joking. Or at least I hoped he was. Agatha Christie, who wrote Murder on the Orient Express on one of her better days, has a lot...