YATA Xmas Bowl Off 2009
This years YATA Xmas Bowl Off was held at the North Perth Bowling Club where teams came together from the tourism industry to battle it out in the YATA 2009 Lawn Bowls Competition. It was a great night of drinks, networking, lawn bowls, and celebrating what YATA has achieved in 2009. Some great prizes were kindly donated from tourism operators including Sky Dive voucher from Skydive Express, Jetboat rides from Swan Jet, Fremantle Prison Tunnel Tour Discount Vouchers for all who attended thanks to the Fremantle Prison, evening tours from 2 Feet & a Heartbeat, Movies by Burswood tickets & Golf Passes from the Burswood Park Board, Hoyts movie tickets, YATA wine and more. YATA would like to thank everybody who made it a success including our generous sponsors this year. We look forward to seeing you all in 2010 with many exciting opportunities coming up!
Pamper Princess Success
Our YATA Pamper Princess event held on Thursday 29th May was a great success! Guests were greeted with a warm welcome from the owners of Walking on Clouds, Elizabeth & Ralph O'Brien. A glass of champagne was the start to this indulgent evening as the ladies commenced their journey of pure relaxation including a combination of back & shoulder massages, reflexology, kinesiology, hot stone massages, meditation and Indian head massages. I am sure all Pamper Princesses will agree that a visit to this premier wellness centre is sure to be a definite winner for your next workplace event or conference partner program! The evening showcased ways to combat the stress of increasing work loads and the importance of taking the time to look after your overall health and wellbeing. Thank you to all the fabulous YATA Pamper Princesses for supporting the event. Our special thanks also go to the talented team at Walking on Clouds for our exclusive night of pampering! The divine raffle prizes were kindly donated by Edwina Taylor from Perth Tram Company and gift certificates from Walking on Clouds.
ATE Round Up
The Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) is Australia’s premier tourism trade event, exhibiting Australian products to international buyers. Along with opportunities to interact, network and to buy and sell between businesses. The first three days are dedicated towards Asia in the Eastern Module, whilst the last four days are aimed at Europe, the Americas, South Africa, countries in the Gulf, New Zealand and the South Pacific in the Western Module. This year the event has been hosted by Perth, running at the Perth Convention Centre from the 14 to 20 June and YATA members have had an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at what goes on in the corporate world. Normally it would have cost upwards of $350, but simply by being a YATA member, it was free. Here is one commentary from Michal, on the excitement of the event.
At the Perth Convention Centre on Wednesday afternoon of the 18th June, I was startled to see a stampede of people all wearing the Tourism Australia badges, rushing towards me and if it wasn’t for my quick judgment to follow the direction in which they were heading I’m sure I would have been headed for a painful accident. I was attending the most prestigious event, on the tourism business calendar, that being the ATE. This event alone generated 10 million dollars for Western Australia.
To begin with, Toni O’ Donnell, the Project Manager for the ATE 2008 gave us a quick overview of what the event entailed and then we were to begin our ‘Behind the Scenes’ look at the chaos and sheer magnitude of the event. We were greeted at the door by Kate and Natalie from Tourism Western Australia who gave us our ‘Walkabout Passes’ and walked us through the different sections of the room represented by the different states and its operators.
Natalie stressed the networking opportunities that existed within the industry and that it was one of the main ways to get a job, little did I know that such facts were to be proved …I ran into the CEO of a company whom I have been writing about as a submission for a Tourism Western Australia award, which also was part of a unit assignment. I talked to him about ATE and I mentioned doing an assignment on Mark Olive for another unit, who is an Australian renowned outback chef and whom I have enjoyed watching him on television. Within two minutes the CEO took me to meet Mark Olive who was giving out food samples. After, the CEO offers me and my study group a free stay at his luxurious accommodation up North as a thanks for working on the award application. All of this happened in just two minutes!
My advice to people who want these opportunities is simple. Get out there and get yourself involved in YATA and experience these events where maybe one conversation could land you your next job! It is really that simple. I could say within 10 minutes my membership to YATA was covered and tripled over in terms of benefits. By seeing the people and business of this industry it reaffirmed so many times over that I was in the right industry for me. And that is priceless.
