RAINFOREST tours and Australian farm stays are being offered to Middle Eastern travellers by Emirates Holidays this summer season.
Davinder Kaur, destination manager Asia & Australasia for Emirates Holidays, said that the a farm stay tour enables visitors to become part of a small Australian community by helping out.
“You’ll learn first hand all about the Australian rural way of life, gain a greater understanding of Australian culture and create friendships with many 'fair dinkum Aussies’.”
Activities can be geared to adults and children alike and guests may participate in the activities only if they wish.
A full day rainforest tour to O’Reilly’s and Mt Tamborine by coach takes guests deep into the McPherson Ranges to Lamington National Park, the largest sub tropical rainforest remnant in the world covering 20,500 hectares of varying forest types. World Heritage status was given in 1994 in recognition of Lamington's high biodiversity.
The UAE tops the visitor list from from the Middle East with GCC nationals being the highest spenders.
The area is popular with visitors from the Middle East because of its focus on family and children, its theme parks, Surfer’s Paradise area, hinterland, waterfalls, rain forest and of course shopping malls, according to Kaur.
“A lot of our clients are saying that they want to go there and stay for an average of 23 days and the longest is like 47 days.”
The Marina’s shopping centre, Pacific Fair and Harbour Town (which has prayer rooms for Muslims) offer big brand names and big discounts.
“There are a lot of options and Gold Coast is a destination that has continuously reinvented itself.”
“There are also hot air balloon rides, helicopter trips where in 20 minutes you can see the whole coastline, and also of interest is a Tallship cruise offering a live band on board.”
Emirates Holidays is currently producing The Arabic traveller, a guide for the GCC market, in Arabic and English. The images and graphics have been edited and censored, and vineyards and the wines are not included. There is also an online travel training programme and a website will be launched. Gold Coast Australia will be at BITE and ATM.