Stamford Plaza Hotels and Resorts has announced that each of its nine Australian properties will implement the group's "Go Green" policy to reduce environmental impact.  Energy saving initiatives include replacing incandescent light globes with compact fluorescent, and flow regulators on water outlets are being introduced to conserve water.

South African Airways (SAA) has announced an extensive expansion of its African network including new routes, extra capacity and larger aircraft.  Thevan Krishna, SAA Regional Manager Australia and New Zealand said Africa has been 'earmarked' as a key growth area for the airline's restructuring process and its route expansion is expected to also boost growth of tourism from Australia and New Zealand to Africa.  "Our mandate is to be an African carrier with a global reach and we are determined to provide the most efficient and effective network on the continent," he said.  On 19 September SAA launched flights to business destination Libreville, Gabon in West Africa and later this year will add a flight on to Abidjan on the Ivory Coast. SAA also plans to add capacity to 11 of its 19 African destinations including Entebbe, Nairobi, Dar Es Salaam, Mauritius and Luanda.  "The current seven return flights per week to Nairobi will increase to 10.  The seven flights per week to Mauritius will be increased to eight per week and will include two flights on Saturday with connections to and from Europe," Krishna said.  SAA will also use larger Boeing 737 aircraft to service some of its African destinations, boosting capacity on several routes, and will upgrade lounge facilities at several African airports including Harare, Lusaka and Lagos.

The much anticipated Dubai Shopping Festival dates have now been announced, with the event to run from 24 January - 24 February 2008.  The event, which attracts millions of visitors each year, offers discounts of a range of products including cars, fashion, electronics, computers, jewelry and perfumes - more info available at www.mydsf.com Melbourne Tourist Boom The latest reports show that tourism in Melbourne is booming, with tourists injecting over $5 billion into the city's economy last year.  The City of Melbourne's Value of Tourism report shows that tourist spend in 2006 was up 8.6% on the previous year, compared to an average national increase of 5.1%.  Melbourne received nearly 10.8 million visitors in 2006, an increase of 3.6% on 2005 figures.  In terms of international tourists travelling to the city more than half visited for holiday/leisure purposes (57.8%)  while business travellers made up 19.1% and visiting friends and relatives 16.6% of the total.  The total number of nights spent in Melbourne was up 17.8% to nearly 30 million.