Tourism Australia has introduced the One Week Walkabout –one-week trips to one of the East Coast hubs of Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane and surrounding areas. Among the activities and events travelers can see and do in Sydney in the coming months are breakfast on the Sydney Harbor Bridge on Oct. 27, during the Crave Sydney festival; visiting Sculpture by the Sea, featuring sculptures from artists around the world, at Bondi Beach, Oct. 29 through Nov. 15; and partying at Sydney Mardi Gras, Feb. 10 through March 6.

Universal Travel System (UTS) of Santa Monica, Calif., is offering a rare trip to North Korea. The company has visas for the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea). UTS took several groups of American travelers to this isolated country in June 2007 and September 2008.

Jamaican hoteliers caught a welcome tax reprieve this week when the Jamaican government extended its tourism stimulus package through September.

In the short span of the past six years, Panama’s tourism arrivals have more than doubled, while tourism-based revenue has more than tripled, according to the Panama Tourism Authority. This growth, along with farsighted, tourism-friendly laws and tax incentives, has opened the floodgates for investment in the country.

The leading Israeli hotel chain, Fattal Hotels, is taking over 12 hotels in Israel with more than 3,100 beds. These include all of the hotels belonging to the Sheraton group as well as 3 hotels belonging to the Accor group. The sum involved in the takeover is somewhere in the region of 175 million euros.

The awarding winning member of the Star Alliance, South Africa Airways (SAA) has fixed September 2009 for the launch of its new dedicated Premium Passengers’ Lounge at Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.