Image Credit:  Wallaby Ben Lomond | Tim Whybrow

Words from our CEO

I’ve been on Flinders Island this week for the Portals to Place (un)conference which has been inspiring, motivational, personal and joyful. I was asked at dinner one night about the most rewarding aspect of my job. This week has been quite reflective anyway, but that question got me thinking and my answer always came back to – the people.

Building relationships to share solutions for problems, bouncing ideas, collaborating on opportunities, supporting in tough times – it’s the people in our industry who make it all worthwhile.

This week we celebrated the arrival of the inaugural flight of Link Airways from Canberra to Launceston. This kickstarts year round four-flights-a-week which will bring a whole new cohort to our region. In this theme of celebrating people, the flight attendant on the first flight was a born-and-bred Launcestonian who was super excited to return to his home town for this occasion!

VNT’s celebration of people is coming a little earlier this year! Our Champions of Tourism event will be held on 27^th August and we are excited to be partnering with Small Wonder to showcase their new restaurant and cellar door venue for the first time to our industry! There are so many people in our industry worthy of the title of Champions and so we will shortly be calling for nominations. Let’s celebrate these people and join Small Wonder in celebrating their new venue.

We often hear that our visitors come to connect with the place, to live life like a local. That’s what makes us different. Our people make the place. So, in the words of the Islander Way project from which the Furneaux Collective was formed here on Flinders Island:

“Don’t try to change this place. Let this place change you.”

Tracey Mallett

CEO | Visit Northern Tasmania | tracey@visitnorthtas.org.au

Fiona and Lisa from the VNT team were at Launceston Airport and armed with goodie bags to welcome passengers as they disembarked from the inaugural Link Airways flight from Canberra on 6 May.

Link Airways 

The VNT team joined in welcoming the inaugural Link Airways flight from Canberra to Launceston on Wednesday 6 May.

Launceston Airport demonstrated why they are a leading regional airport with an amazing welcome cake, VNT treated arriving passengers to some local delights with a goodie bag, and for a lucky few there was a bottle of Clover Hill Sparkling Wine.

Link Airways are now operating direct services between Canberra and Launceston, establishing a non stop connection between Northern Tasmania and the nations capital. The service is year round and operates four times weekly on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, strengthening business, government and leisure travel between the two cities.

Regional Collaboration

Visit Northern Tasmania has partnered with Island Escape Winter Festival and Hawks to run a campaign encouraging mainlanders to Unlock Launceston, positioning Northern Tasmania as a premium winter escape. 

This initiative is being delivered by Island Escape in collaboration with Hawthorn Football Club and VNT targeting audiences across Victoria and broader mainland Australia.

The campaign centres on a high-value prize package that brings together AFL, festival, food and travel experiences to drive visitation to Launceston during winter.

With support from Launceston Airport, the competition will be shared with Melbourne Airports' mainland audience of over 400,000, and will be distributed via Hawks, Island Escape and VNT marketing channels.

Tomorrow Conference

Tomorrow Conference is Tasmania’s leading marketing and business event, bringing together professionals from a range of industries who are pushing the edge of what’s possible.

Across two full days on Monday 16 June and Tuesday 17 June 2026, you’ll engage with an inspiring lineup of leading entrepreneurs, business owners and senior leaders. Through thought-provoking keynotes and panel discussions, you’ll gain practical tools, fresh ideas and future-focused insights to take back to your organisation.

Industry Events, Workshops & Resources

Keep up to date with industry and market insights, connect with local businesses, and keep across visitor  trends.

Industry Grants and Support

Visit Northern Tasmania's Industry Hub is a great resource when searching for grants or funding, but it is always helpful to have access to additional tools when searching for the right support for your business. Business Tasmania has come to the rescue with The Grants and Funding Finder – making it easier than ever to discover funding opportunities.

You will find a link to this useful tool at the VNT Industry Hub: Industry Support, Training and Grant Opportunities page - or simply click on the button below to be taken straight to our page!

Australian Regional Tourism (ART)

There’s more at stake than fuel is a coordinated advocacy effort led by Australian Regional Tourism, designed to shift the conversation from simply cutting back on driving to understanding what that means for regional communities.

There are a number of ways you can be involved, to learn more follow the link to ART, noting that to login and access the information you will need to create a free account.

Add your voice for Northern Tasmania by making a 'pledge' or support the campaign using the available assets in your marketing material.

What's On - Major Events & New Events 

Northern Tasmania is leading the way with over 100 events being held in our region during the Off Season (May-August 2026). This represents approximately 50% of all events to be held in Tasmania during the cooler months!

Late May will see Australian Musical Theatre Festival, AFL (Hawks vs Adelaide Crows) and Supercars all line up for an event-filled week kicking off on 20 May. Off the back of these events starting 29 May, Fungi the Festival invites visitors to celebrate all things fungi and mushroom and on 31 May the McGrath Running Festival is back in town bringing interstate and international visitors to Launceston.

The events keep coming during June and July - highlights include; Dark Mofo; Solstice in the Square George Town; Devils Cardigan UCI Gravel Championship; Island Escape Winter Festival; Hawks vs Melbourne; and Festival of Voices.

There is plenty to entice visitors to Northern Tasmania this winter, so keep the lights on, stoke the fires and get ready to help them become a winter person.

Is your ATDW profile costing you bookings?

An outdated ATDW profile is like leaving an expired brochure on display - it costs you customers. Your profile appears across Google Business, australia.com, Discover Tasmania, and Visit Northern Tasmania, making it one of your most powerful marketing tools.

Don't let your profile expire: Every ATDW profile has an expiry date, and when it expires, your business becomes invisible across all these platforms. The good news? You can change your expiry date to align with your quieter season, ensuring you never miss renewal when you're busy.

Take 15 minutes this week to refresh your profile and protect your online visibility.

Quick Tips for refreshing your ATDW profile.

• Update your hero image regularly to align with the seasons eg: something wintery for the cooler months.
• Check that opening hours are still correct. Update seasonally if required.
• Keep all images fresh. Update all or most of them at least once a year if you can.
• Book a free 'profile optimisation' session with ATDW.
• Add new deals, offers or events that are available at your business.
• Use good quality images.
• Write your business description so it is optimised for AI Gen Search.
• Review the tags you have selected (or add tags if you haven't done so). These are used by GTOs to group products in a generic way for the purpose of digital marketing campaigns.
• Brag a little - if your business has received any awards, add these in the applicable section. 

Remember that updates to your ATDW profile will auto refresh your Google Business Profile, saving you time. And updates automatically flow through to tourism sites such as: Discover Tasmania | australia.com | Visit Northern Tasmania.