Netball World Championship Singapore 2011

The 2011 Netball World Championships in Singapore is one of the current crop of events Sportsnet Holidays is most excited about. The Singapore Tourist Authority have been great and are right behind the comp and getting international fans to the event. We have been in touch with a lot of the National Netball Comps and there is a real buzz building. Sportsnet Holidays have our first bite of the cherry out there as of this week. We have released 4 night Singapore Netball packages with flights and with out flights as well as the full 9 night Netball World Championship packages again with and without flights. Not sure if it will turn out to be group bookings from clubs friendship groups or individuals, we will have to wait and see. I think netball, bit of shopping, nice hotel & maybe a few nights on one of the islands close by like Tioman sounds good. Well its great that the teams have the Netball World Champs packages out their for 2011(did I really say 2011, yikes).

AFL Travel 2010

AFL season 2010 is two weeks in & we have our Offical AFL Grand Final Onseller codes. Thinking about the highlights for me as a sports traveller this year I think they will be the traditional AFL ANZAC Day clash which has competition this year from the Melbourne based NRL Game carrying the same name. The AFL MVP which is run by the AFL Players Association and is getting bigger every year with whole, “player celebrity focus &WAGS phenomena” & of course the AFL Grand Final which I can’t believe has been on sale before the AFL Premiership has even fired up. What is really adding a new dimension this year to the AFL home and away series is that the Dogs & Saints will up there but the interstate clubs with all the player & manager changes could be any where. Anyway we have put a lot of work in to season 2010 at Sportsnet Holidays and the AFL Travel Packages are out there and most importantly the boss is not winning the office footy tipping comp (which in any case would be unAustralian, please note: bosses & poms dont win office footy comps)

Socceroos fans & World Cup Price Hikes

With less than a 100 days to go this Article online in Melbourne's Herald Sun really stung. heraldsun.com.au Aussies Stung by Football World Cup Price Hikes here is the link.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/travel/news/aussies-stung-by-football-world-cup-price-hikes/story-fn32891l-1225843664435

I can understand the anger so I wrote the response below.It's a tough call to choose what to market to soccer fans & South Africa can be a tricky destination for many operators. So I tried to be nice but in essence we thought camping in Autumn was a youth product and what about rain, security & showers etc. A weekend at Meridith or the Falls Festival with a bit of rain is enough and you are only a days drive max from a shower, a sleep & a big feed at home. The other issue was Jo'burgs reputation was too scary for us even though it seemed like a cool place Aussies South Africans said otherwise. Anyway this is how it went.

A Travel Company Perspective: At SportsnetHolidays.com we are also an official participating tour operator for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa selling tours with Tickets & Hotel Packages. We have sold out one tour & are doing well in a second tour. We took 2 years to plan our World Cup packages & after visiting South Africa in Autumn chose against camping. We also believe Australians who have gone all the way to Africa should see Vic Falls, go to Kruger & Climb Table mountain. We figured it was better to pay & organise this before you left, but this made our offer more expensive. All our packages are hotel only as a week in tents if it rains with no place to leave your passport, tickets, ipods etc can be along time. Sportsnet focused on offering a range of African tours for fans that have gone all the way to South Africa & to back that up by offering a Cape Town Accommodation only option for fans that have their own tickets.

Townsville V8's, Townsville V8 Supercars update

V8 Supercars has kicked off this weekend in Adelaide. We had a great Q&A session at the Sportsnet Holidays V8 drivers function & I have put up a link to it on youtube. I also got some not so good feedback saying we need to rework our Clipsal 500 offering as it had been the same for 2 years, hard to hear but much appreciated.

This is a great read especially for the SMH which doesn't have a great rep in V8 Supercars reporting, it is 5 V8 drivers to watch in 2010.

The event that seems to have everyone in the office pumped this year is the Townsville 400. The Townsville V8 accommodation is also a city street circuit. I am not sure why that makes in more captivating.

This year we have got more Townsville V8 Supercars tickets and a greater choice of Townsville V8 accommodation on the site. For those of you who don't know the Townsville V8 Supercars date it is 9-11 July and you wont get a better dose of winter sunshine than in Townsville.

Melbourne F1 News Australian Grand Prix

Finally saw some advertising and promo around town for the Australian Grand Prix. The Melbourne F1 race has been our number one traffic driver for months now and I was really concerned that there didn't seem to be a vibe out there. Powder Finger are the main entertainment act ( I will be at that one).
Bookings have been a bit slow since Christmas so we put a new short stay Australian Grand Prix Travel package in the market which is only 2 nights. We have never had short stays before with the Australian Grand Prix, it has always been 3 to 5 nights. Hope things will really kick on now the promotion has started. At Sportsnet Holidays we love the Aussie Grand Prix like the Australian Open its first of the season and always throws up a surprise or two.

Socceroos World Cup South Africa

Every time there is another Socceroos game the World Cup buzz lingers for days. Two good bits to look at on BBC Africa. The first one is the African experience of trying to by world cup tickets. It took Sportsnet Holidays over a year to get World Cup tickets & World Cup Tour accreditation and corporate hospitality rights and we had a heap of experience in Africa. The process was tough but fair. You have to feel for those guys, even if we moan it makes you feel lucky we have such good systems in Australia. The other good one is a Soccer Fans Guide to Cape Town a great city which will be packed with Socceroos fans. Looking forward to the Socceroos vs the Kiwis at the G. Remember the last World Cup send off match, for those of not going it should be a great atmosphere.

Ashes Tour Packages & Ashes Tickets

Ashes Tour for 3 mobile Ashes Test Series 2010-11.

Ashes Tour Packages are the hottest Sports Tour packages of 2010 -2011. The five match Ashes Tour in Australia is due on general release by about the 05th March 2010. Sportsnet Holidays Ashes Tour packages will have Ashes tickets & hotels from 3 to 5 star in every major city & we are looking at a lead in price from about $600 per person for a 3 star hotel for 3 nights and two solid days of Ashes Cricket. With our extensive experience in AFL Footy, NRL & V8s we have great hotel deals in every city which we have locked in. However getting access to the Ashes Tickets to the Australian tests is always a huge challenge & we have wait until general the release of the tickets. In the mean time if you want more than just a ticket stay tuned & here are the dates for the Australian Ashes Series below. If the Long Form of our game is not your bag we have the Twenty20 World Cup and the Pakistan vs Australia games in London to satifiy your desire for some crash & bash action.

Ashes Test Dates are out.

The Gabba Ashes Test Nov. 25-29
Adelaide Ashes Test Dec. 3-7
Perth Ashes Test Dec. 16-20.
Melbourne Ashes Test (Boxing Day Test) Dec. 26-30
Sydney Ashes Test Jan. 3-7.

Sports Travel & Tours Business

Been a busy week at Sportsnet Holidays. Best bit so far is Phil Anderson (Aussie Cycling Legend) being in the office. One the of the interesting things I have noticed over the years is that with a couple of obvious exceptions few professional cyclists are very tall. Given the stamina and sheer grit involved in the Tour de France , Tour of Spain or Giro I some how always expect them to be as big as AFL Football players.
The team here have been spending time reworking some of our bigger events post the Australian Open and pre Australian F1 Grand Prix. Feb is a big month for football codes. We get the pre season comps; AFL & NRL, A-League Soccer wraps up (its Victory vs Sydney United, which could get ugly) & we have the first of the Super 14 Rugby Union matches.
So in Feb we have to get NRL Grand Final, AFL Travel, Bledisloe Cup tickets & Tour De France Packages sorted out before we get really busy again.

Wallabies Rugby World Cup Match Schedule

The Wallabies draw for the Rugby World Cup in NZ is out for those planning their trip.

The Wallabies draw has been finalized as follows:

Sunday, September 11, 2011: Australia v Italy in Christchurch
Saturday, September 17, 2011: Australia v Ireland in Auckland
Friday, September 23, 2011: Australia v Americas 2 in Wellington
Saturday, October 1, 2011: Australia v Europe 2 in Christchurch

That is a bit of travel between cities. Ireland has to be the pick of the bunch in Auckland, flights will be tough as that is start of school holidays.

Sportsnet Holidays Rugby World Cup Packages will be out shortly we will have official Rugby World Cup Tickets & 3 to 5 star hotels which we will have pre paid as accommodation is going to be tight.

A year after we started work on this event I am finally beginning to feel the buzz.

V8 Supercars Race Calendar 2010

Our V8 Supercars tickets & hotels packages for 2010 have finally taken shape. Sportsnet Holidays have really pumped up the range of V8 races we are offered this year. Traditionally Sportsnet have gone for Bathurst 1000, Clipsal 500, Hidden Valley Darwin & the Townsville 400. Last year we did the Hamilton 400, Gold Coast & Sydney plus a few customised bookings to the Abu Dahbi V8s. This year we have given the V8 Supercars travel packages a bit more grunt.

The 2010 Bathurst V8s have of course gone off & our 2009 Bathurst clients have already booked out over half of our hotels with nine months still to go! Townsville & Darwin are ticking over nicely (this year I WILL go to Townsville), however Clipsal 500 this year has been very quiet for us. Our Clipsal 500 packages are a bit more expensive than others but we have a great driver forum & other inclusions in our package, looks like we might have to re tweak the offer.

Anyway back to the main topic, this is what the starters grid is looking like for Sportsnetholidys.com V8 Supercars calendar in 2010.

Abu Dhabi
Clipsal 500 Adelaide
Desert 400 Bahrain
Falken Tasmania Challenge
Grand Finale Sydney 500
Hamilton 400
Skycity Triple Crown Hidden Valley Darwin
Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000
Surfers Paradise V8
Townsville V8 Supercars

For the full list of 2010 V8 events you can't go past this one on my favourite V8 blog

World Cup Tickets South Africa 2010

World Cup tickets, its taken a few years of hard work but Sportsnet holidays have been appionted by MATCH as an official agent in Australia and New Zealand for the hospitality program. For those that can afford it the four offers are sensational.

The main thing for corporate organisations & other potential clients will be the organisational lead time required with Pakistan here playing cricket we are still firmly in a summer mode of thinking. Take a look at what is on the Sportsnet website site, MATCH have certainly done a great job with the offering.

World Cup Travel Official Hospitality Programme
Sportsnet authorised agent of MATCH World Cup Hospitality in Australia & New Zealand for the sale of the Official Hospitality Programme Catagory One World Cup Tickets for the every 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ Match.

There are 4 types of hospitality options available:
The FIFA Business Seat
The Suite Hospitality Experience
The Match 2010
The Match Pavillion


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THE FIFA BUSINESS SEAT
The FIFA BUSINESS SEAT Programme features the best available Category 1 match tickets combined with hospitality services provided in outside temporary facilities within stadium perimeters. The FIFA BUSINESS SEAT is a great way of enjoying the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ with a perfect mix of hospitality services coupled with the shared excitement of the football in the stands.

Services in Overview:
•Best available Category 1 match ticket
•Shared hospitality experience with a casual ambiance in outside temporary facilities within
stadium perimeters
•Buffet catering before and after the match and bar service
•Casual décor
•Hostess services
•Parking facilities
•Access to MATCH Hospitality Domestic
•Travel Services

2010 Aussie Cricket in London vs Pakistan & England.

We love selling Cricket travel & Cricket tour packages (you have to love it as its more of a passion than a way to turn a quid in sports travel). So we have some exciting travel news, with the Australian Cricket team returning to play cricket at Lords in July 2010.
Starting with an ODI against England at Lords, the Aussies then play against Pakistan in 2 x Twenty20’s at Edgbaston.
Hostilities against Pakistan continue with a test match at Lords.
Sportsnet Holidys can make sure you don’t miss this once in a lifetime chance to see Australia play at the “home of cricket” or at Edgbaston. Check the website if you are interested or have some mates traveling UK and Europe next summer.

Australian Open Draw

The draw is out for the Australin Open starting next week.

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/ms/index.html

Some great looking pathways. For once the weather is looking cool for the first few days at least. A few lucky staff from Sportsnet Holidays are going in the first week.

Even More tennis

Been watching the Tennis in Langkawi Malaysia. There is a 50inch screen and its out doors with a Tiger beer and a big fan blowing, reckon we are sweating more than the Hopman Cup players can wait for the Australian Open to start. Go Justine go!