From the Hotel, Hospitality + Design Expo website:

Hotel Hospitality + Design 2011 offers the perfect opportunity to demonstrate your products and services to the hotel and hospitality industry.

The majority of companies involved take exhibition stand space, however there are also a variety of ways that your business can gain addition cut through to the industry by integrating your products into various features around the show.

Click here for more information regarding the Hotel, Hospitality + Design Exhibition.

Woolworths is the subject of media speculation over a bid for a privately-owned chain of big-box hardware stores.

The Gippsland Times newspaper reported on Friday that speculation Woolworths might be about to take over the Dahlsens chain had surfaced after the retail giant acquired Danks. Woolworths has a joint venture with US hardware retailer Lowes, in which it will build a chain of warehouse style hardware stores across Australia to compete with Bunnings.

Click here to read the full article on the Inside Retailing website.

The Fine Food Australia exhibition will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from Monday 13^th – Thursday 16^th, September.

Register before 6 September 2010 for free entry, save $30.

From the Fine Food Australia website:

If you work in the retail, food service or hospitality industry, then you simply cannot afford to miss Fine Food Australia. It only takes one visit to discover hundreds of new ideas with food that could change the way you do business forever!

Fine Food has earned the reputation as Australia’s only truly international event for the food industry. This is the place to find the newest and best products and sevices on offer and stay abreast of what’s hot and happening in the industry.

Click here for more information or to register at the Fine Food Australia website.

The plan has been developed to ensure the State’s tourism industry achieves the target of employing 225,000 people by 2016. The plan addresses the key challenges in attracting and retaining individuals with the required skills and experiences.

Click here to access the plan [PDF: 2.2MB] from the Tourism Victoria web site.

In the early 1950’s Laerdal made soft plastic children’s dolls. Today their products include Choking Charlie, Crash Kelly and Mr Hurt Head. They sound macabre, but these lifelike manikins are lifesavers. They are used in hospitals and other organisations to train staff in first aid and emergency medicine procedures, from life support to the Heimlich manoeuvre.

As well as supplying the manikins, Laerdal provides customers with training in their use as teaching aids. Not surprisingly for a business that helps other organisations train their staff, Laerdal understands the importance of its own staff training. This international company recently decided to set a minimum training time of 24 hours per staff-member per year, worldwide, for professional development.

Click here to view the full case study [PDF: 332KB].

From the Inside Retail website:

The finalists for the Online Retail Industry Awards (ORIAs) have been announced, with some key trends emerging from entrants.

The inaugural ORIAs program is designed to provide a standard for internet retailers to strive for, and will establish a focus on what constitutes best practice and excellence in the industry.

Andy Powell, chair of the ORIA judging panel and director of multichannel at Deloitte, said there were some clear themes which reflected the growing maturity of the industry in Australia.

Click here to read the full article on the Inside Retailing website.

Retail is a University is based on the success stories of 10 leading retailers: Janine Allis, Bernie Brookes, Lesley Gillespie, Roger Gillespie, Gerry Harvey, John Ilhan, Jonathan Pinshaw, Peter Ritchie, Stephen Tindall and Carla Zampatti.

Retail is a University celebrates retail as a career of first choice. It is a must read for mentors and HR professionals seeking aids to assist those they are guiding and retail employees looking for inspiration and a vision of what can be.

Click here for more information or to purchase the book at RetailBooks.com.au.

From Inside Retailing:

“Basically we get confused a bit about what retail is. It is really just buying things, putting them on a floor and selling them.” – Gerry Harvey.

I don’t think that retail is especially complex After all, when all is said and done, it’s all about selling a product or service at a more profitable rate of exchange than your competitor to customers who want to keep coming back to you.

So what makes it seem more complex?

Click here to read the full article on the Inside Retailing website.

Australia’s peak regional tourism body, the Australian Regional Tourism Network (ARTN), has developed a blueprint to demonstrate how tourism can further underpin regional economies. At the annual convention held this week in the Yarra Valley, this change of focus, which was once a sector driven by marketing, now sees marketing as only part of the solution.

“The key message from the convention is that marketing tourism is no longer the panacea for driving regional tourism growth into the future,” explains Mr John Sereni, the newly appointed ARTN Chair.

“The industry has clearly identified that local leadership, product development and advocacy are key drivers in sustainable regional economic growth, jobs and investment.”

Five priorities have emerged from robust participant discussions at the convention, each reflecting the resilience of regional tourism practitioners in Australia. These discussions will help set an action plan for the organisation over the coming 12 months. The 5 priorities address issues and opportunities in research, product supply, advocacy and marketing. They are to:

Advance tourism as a priority for government;
Ensure appropriate funding for regional tourism management and marketing;
Develop stronger support for regional tourism product and experience development;
Generate a process to gather and share research based knowledge;
Create an environment where product innovation, development and maintenance can flourish.

“As an industry we have borne the brunt of the economic shocks and moved through,” explains Mr Sereni.

“We are positive and are looking forward to a remarkable future by working collaboratively with the federal government, particularly its push towards building upon regional experiences.”

“The ARTN is the peak regional tourism body in Australia, and we will work hard to ensure that these 5 priorities are delivered to the appropriate government agencies and stakeholders.”

Media enquiries: Vivienne Palmer on 0402 496843 or email vivienne.palmer@scu.edu.au

The National Retail Association ‘Young Retailer of the Year’ for 2010 has been awarded to Kaylee Albronda, a 21 year old Myer Management Trainee based in Melbourne.

The Young Retailer Event, which is in its 37th year, provides a national platform to recognise and reward excellence amongst young retailers under the age of 25, and to promote retailing as a career for young people. It gives young retailers the chance to exhibit their retailing skills, and be recognised by their peers, the retail industry, and the general community for their innovation, career achievements and outstanding performance in their stores.

Click here to read the full article on the Service Skills Australia website.