Latest news with #BrettMitchell
Courier-Mail
6 days ago
- Courier-Mail
Why more people are booking Europe trips in shoulder season
Don't miss out on the headlines from Lifestyle. Followed categories will be added to My News. On paper, our European summer getaway was perfect: a beach resort in Bodrum, a Greek Islands cruise and family downtime in Athens. Obviously, travelling during the July school holidays – a necessity for my family – was far from ideal, but how bad could the weather really be? We arrived to temperatures in the mid-40s, shutting down key attractions such as the Acropolis due to safety concerns, and keeping us Airbnb-bound until well after sunset. 'Why couldn't we have done this in the October school holidays?' my daughter whined and I had to admit she had a point. Our holiday was too hot, too crowded and too stressful. It's a conversation we're revisiting in our household as news hits that Intrepid Travel has 'cancelled' July and August 2025 departures to Spain and Portugal. It sounds dramatic as a headline (and certainly got us talking) – except for the fact that there were no actual cancellations of scheduled trips. Intrepid Travel's ANZ managing director Brett Mitchell clarifies: 'In our early planning last year, we allocated fewer departures for some of our active trips in Europe in July and August, shifting this capacity to April, May and September in response to higher demand for shoulder season travel.' We arrived to temperatures in the mid-40s, shutting down key attractions such as the Acropolis due to safety concerns. While a small number of active trips in Spain and Portugal during this time have fewer allocations, Mitchell adds that the total number of departures on active trips in southern Europe has increased throughout spring and autumn. 'We recognise the reality of over tourism and hotter weather in some destinations and seek to continuously evolve our trips to help disperse travellers to new and exciting places and provide opportunities to travel at different times,' he says. It makes sense that tour operators such as Intrepid Travel, ever mindful of traveller safety and security, need to be more agile than ever. This northern summer record-breaking heat is being recorded across Europe, with Granada in Spain and Mora in Portugal hitting a touch over 46C, and Italy releasing figures which show a 15-20 per cent increase in hospital admissions this season related to excessive heat, as well as the heatstroke-related deaths of seven tourists. Unsurprisingly, local councils aren't taking any chances. In early July the top floor of the Eiffel Tower was closed for two consecutive days when Paris temperatures lurched towards 40C – a move mirrored at the Atomium in Brussels. It's bad news for tourists already there and even worse news for planet Earth. So where does it leave those of us still dreaming and planning our European getaways? In early July the top floor of the Eiffel Tower was closed for two consecutive days when Paris temperatures lurched towards 40C. Personally, I would now only holiday in Italy or Greece during the shoulder seasons, and Mitchell says I'm far from alone, explaining that more than half of their travellers (55 per cent) – enticed by cooler weather, fewer crowds and lower costs – are now heading to southern Europe outside June to August. 'Subsequently, we've added more trips outside of summer, like Highlights of Italy in Winter, which runs from November through March, and we've made changes to summer tours too,' Michell says. 'In Dubrovnik, for example, our leaders now visit the city walls early in the morning or later in the evening when it's cooler and quieter.' Still hankering for the kind of European summer we enjoyed back in the '80s and '90s? We can beat the heat by venturing to 'coolcation' destinations, such as Iceland, Scotland, Norway and Finland. We can't do anything about the crowds, though; the way things are going, that's where we'll all be heading soon enough and that's a fact. Originally published as I took my family to Southern Europe in July. It was too hot and too crowded
Sky News AU
15-07-2025
- Sky News AU
'Climate change has accelerated everything': Australian tour company Intrepid cancels European trip citing climate concerns
A major Australian travel company has axed tours to popular European spots over concerns of extreme weather caused by climate disruption, in the wake of severe heat and wildfires. Intrepid Travel made the call to move its European tours away from the peak season during the continent's summer and redesign when the trips are organised for climate resilience. More than half (55 per cent) of Intrepid's Europe-bound travellers are booking outside of the traditional summer window for the first time this year in favour of the shoulder season (April, May, September). The peak-season (June, July, August) departures to the Iberian Peninsula, which includes countries such as Spain and Portugal, have also been cut. "I thought we had five to ten years before this trend hit the mainstream, but climate change has accelerated everything," Intrepid Travel's Australian and New Zealand managing director Brett Mitchell told "Heatwaves, wildfires, and overtourism aren't isolated incidents anymore - they're central to the travel experience of a European summer. "Enticed by fewer crowds, lower costs and cooler climates, we're seeing travellers discover the benefits of visiting popular destinations outside of peak season." Two years ago, the CEO of the Melbourne-based travel company predicted Aussies would choose to travel to Europe outside the peak seasons within the next five to ten years, but now this prediction has arrived sooner than expected. Extreme weather events in previous European summers have sparked concern over travelling during the period, with 34 climate-related events affecting Intrepid trips in 2024 alone. Last year was the warmest year on record for Europe with central, eastern and southeastern regions of the continent notching record temperatures. Severe heat in 2025 has already sparked a heatwave warning from the World Health Organisation for southern Europe including countries such as Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy, with temperatures surpassing 40 degrees. The WHO's technical officer for climate change and health, Marisol Yglesias Gonzalez said it's no longer a question of if there will be a heatwave, but rather how many there will be and how long they will last. A WHO expert also urged for more to be done, in order to stop tens of thousands of "unnecessary and largely preventable deaths". In 2023, more than 47,000 deaths were counted in Europe as being caused by heat. Late last month, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres posted on X that extreme heat was "no longer a rare event" and had become the "new normal". "The planet is getting hotter and more dangerous - no country is immune."
Daily Mail
15-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Europe trips are CANCELLED by popular Australian tour company for an unbelievable reason
One of Australia's leading travel companies has cancelled all tours to southern Europe during July and August 2025, warning that rising heat, wildfires, and climate disruption are now making popular destinations unsafe for tourists. Intrepid Travel said it had taken the unprecedented step of axing peak-season departures to the Iberian Peninsula - which includes Spain and Portugal - citing growing safety concerns, routine heat advisories, and the increasing closure of key attractions during extreme weather. Intrepid Travel's Australian and New Zealand managing director, Brett Mitchell, said that across Europe, they were redesigning trips for climate resilience. 'For the first time, more than half of Intrepid's Europe-bound travellers are booking outside of the traditional June to August window,' he said. 'I thought we had five to ten years before this trend hit the mainstream, but climate change has accelerated everything.' The company has already recorded 34 climate-related incidents affecting trips in 2024 alone. In Greece, 2024 saw the longest-lasting heatwave on record, and Athens now has a Chief Heat Officer to manage public health during the summer months. 'Heatwaves, wildfires, and overtourism aren't isolated incidents anymore - they're central to the travel experience of a European summer.' Europe's freak back-to-back heat domes killed 2,300 people in eight days, with temperatures reaching 48C. Portugal alone has recorded 284 deaths during the ongoing heatwave. In neighbouring Spain, more than 18,000 people in Tarragona were ordered to stay indoors on Tuesday as a wildfire raged out of control. Last month was the planet's third-hottest June on record - behind 2024 and 2023 - while Western Europe saw its warmest June since records began, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service. Britain has sweltered in near record-breaking temperatures, with sunseekers across the country heading to the seaside to cool down as it basked in its third heatwave of the year. New booking data shows that more than half of travellers are now choosing the cooler shoulder season of April, May, and September to explore Europe. September has even overtaken July as the most popular time to visit hotspots like Italy, Croatia, and Portugal, with off-season demand for Italy up a staggering 166 per cent, while peak-season bookings have plummeted 72 per cent year-on-year. Mr Mitchell added that the company is shifting away from over-saturated hotspots to quieter, lesser-known places - from Minori on the Amalfi Coast instead of Positano, to Mljet Island in Croatia instead of Hvar. The effects of rising temperatures and throngs of tourists are beginning to reshape the patterns of European travel, particularly for people from Australia, where long flights and expensive trips require thoughtful planning.
News.com.au
13-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
These ASX goldies are close to unlocking producer status
With the soaring gold price, Australia's next mob of near-term producers are champing at the bit to get their projects up and running. The timing couldn't be better to open a new gold mine, with price above A$5100/oz at the time of writing. Gold projects are unique in the mining world. With the advantage of installed infrastructure and a high price relative to more common metals, even a small gold operation can be a money-spinner. That means junior operators can quickly open up and generate cash from relatively modest operations with construction timelines that run shorter than a two-bed house. In a sign of the times nano-cap gold explorer Javelin Minerals (ASX:JAV) is chasing the goal of mining the ~34,000 recoverable ounces at its Eureka project in WA from the first quarter of 2026. One of two advanced projects on the company's books along with the formerly Ramelius Resources operated Coogee project east of Kalgoorlie, the decision to push ahead with Eureka could put $25-30m in the bank account of a company currently capped at just $12.5m. "When we executed the agreement to acquire Eureka, the gold price was around $3000 Aussie, which is only around 12 months ago when we first negotiated the transaction," Javelin executive chairman Brett Mitchell said. "The fact that it's up 40% from there, it opens up possibilities that we haven't seen before and the sector hasn't seen before, which is really exciting. " Assets that sort of haven't seen the light of day previously in larger companies are available and potentially to be picked up by smaller companies and developed." The project hosts a resource of 2.45mt at 1.42g/t Au for 112,000 ounces, including 62,000oz indicated, and a quick pathway to mining means the company could create rapid value in the current record high gold price environment. JAV is considering several options to mill its ore nearby, including the Paddington gold operations owned by Chinese giant Zijin Mining just 20km away. Engineering studies and the approval process for the restart of mining are well advanced, with the board aiming to be mining within 12 months. There's also room to grow the resource, with exploration progressing in parallel. That's a major benefit of the decision to mine at Eureka, which will see a contractor take on the risk of funding the development while Javelin rakes in millions in fresh capital without diluting shareholders. " A) it is transformational, b) it enables us to go and self-fund without any more requirement for capital, allowing further exploration at Eureka and Coogee," Mitchell said. "We can also look at other complementary gold project acquisitions in and around the WA Goldfields." Big and small developers heading for producer status Javelin isn't the only ASX gold explorer en route to becoming a producer in quick time. Here's a run down of some of the miners running hard toward development. Star Minerals (ASX:SMS) Star Minerals is aiming to become a small-scale gold producer at its 45,000oz Tumblegum South project as soon as 2026. A scoping study for the project suggested at gold prices from A$3000 to A$3800/oz the updated production target for the project ranges from approximately 167,000t at 2.43g/t producing 11,800oz gold, to 255,000t at 2.16g/t producing 15,900oz gold. That would generate an undiscounted accumulated cash surplus after payment of all working capital costs, but excluding pre-mining capital requirements, of approximately A$9.4m to A$19.6m. Drill results are pending from a recent program, with the company aiming to convert any remaining shallow inferred resources to indicated within the optimised pit in the project's scoping study. Once operational, the project could feed underutilised mills operated by the likes of Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) and Catalyst Metals (ASX:CYL). Ausgold (ASX:AUC) AUC will take a little longer to get there, but will be ensconced in the ASX's prospective mid-tier once in production around 2027, after releasing a definitive feasibility study for its Katanning gold project in WA. AUC holds over 3500km2 of what's essentially an entire greenstone belt in WA's Great Southern region, and had an unconstrained resource of 3.04Moz of gold at an average grade of 1.06g/t. As part of the DFS, that was updated to stand at 69Mt at 1.11g/t for 2.44 million ounces of contained gold, constrained to an economic $4500/oz pit shell. The study also detailed an average annual gold production of 140,000oz over the first four years through a 3.6Mtpa processing plant, producing 1.14Moz in total over the mine's first decade. At a fairly modest gold price of A$4300/oz, strong project economics include a post-tax cashflow of A$1.37Bn, IRR of 53%, with all in sustaining costs of A$2180/oz over first four years and A$2265/oz over the life-of-mine. At a recent spot gold price of approximately A$5000/oz (US$3250/oz), the study flags a post-tax cashflow of A$1.36 billion (US$0.88 billion) and IRR of 68%. The plan now is to progress to a final investment decision, with AUC last week banking a $35m cap raising which will enable the purchase of long lead time items and ongoing exploration. Theta Gold Mines (ASX:TGM) Theta is targeting production at its 6.1Moz Transvaal Gold Mining Estates project in 2027, spurred on by record gold prices, announcing a decision to mine last month. The historic South African gold field sits 370km northeast of the global gold and business hub of Johannesburg, near the original gold rush town of Pilgrim's Rest in Mpumalanga. And with spot prices around double that used in the company's 2022 feasibility study it's no wonder TGM is racing to get into production. The old study suggested the project could produce 80-100,000ozpa over a near 13-year mine life at an all-in sustaining cost of just US$834/oz. An updated study is due in September and is expected to deliver vastly superior economics, with the development already boasting a positive net present value of US$432 million on pre-boom prices. Sydney-based equity markets advisory firm RaaS Research Group said last week the company could be due a re-rate once it's in production. On the funding front, TGM has secured a credit approved loan facility agreement and indicative funding terms from the Industrial Development Corporation for a US$35m loan. Forming part of the overall project debt funding, it will make the South African government credit agency a key stakeholder in the project. Challenger Gold (ASX:CEL) Challenger is targeting production later this year for its Hualilán gold project in Argentina. The company is in the midst of metallurgical testwork which is expected to be completed by Q4 2025 ahead of a standalone pre-feasibility study at the project. The company is aiming to confirm heap leaching as a viable pathway for processing low-grade material that was previously excluded from economic evaluation. 'This could materially enhance the scale, economics and development pathway for Hualilan, positioning it as a standout gold project in Argentina,' MD Kris Knauer said this week. CEL also has a three-year toll milling strategy on the cards which – based on conservative spot prices of US$2500/oz for gold and US$27.50/oz for silver – anticipates EBITDA of A$136 million, a post-tax NPV of US$50.5 million, and cumulative post-tax-free cash flow of US$56.7 million. Using a gold price of US$3300/oz, this EBITDA increases to A$221 million. These impressive financial metrics are from toll milling through Austral Gold's Casposo mill, which is based on exploiting only 3% of the current 2.8Moz resource at Hualilan. Mining will be focused on three shallow open pits producing 465,000 wet metric tonnes of mineralised material above the cut-off grade at an average mined grade of 6.2g/t gold and 35g/t silver. Ore will be hauled 165km on a sealed highway to the fully permitted Casposo plant, where recoveries are expected of 84.4% gold and 65.7% silver. West Wits Mining (ASX:WWI) The company is bringing one of the Witwatersrand Basin's historic gold fields back into production, after kicking off development of its Qala Shallows project last month. The 70,000ozpa development is the first step on the road to a potential 200,000ozpa production hub in the South African basin, the world's most productive gold basin responsible for turning out more than 1.5Boz of the precious metal since 1886. WWI controls more than 5Moz and recently executed a buyback agreement taking its stake in the Witwatersrand Basin project from 66.6% to 74%, giving the company more control over the project as commodity prices sit at record levels of ~US$3300/oz. An update to the project's definitive feasibility study is underway to reflect improved economics at higher gold prices – with the old study assuming a price of just US$1850/oz. Updated economics are expected to deliver a lower peak funding requirement, shortened payback period and higher NPV, plus an updated mine plan based on a lower cut-off grade. The company is targeting first gold pour from the project in Q4 this year. Western Gold Resources (ASX:WGR) WGR is fast-tracking its Gold Duke mine into production after securing a binding toll milling agreement with Wiluna Mining Corporation last month. The project hosts shallow, free-milling ore, enabling rapid, low-cost open-pit extraction and early access to production and is just 46km from the Wiluna processing plant. The agreement duration is 24 months, allowing the company to lock in its Stage 1 production, which involves the production of 447,000t at 2.55g/t gold for 34,000oz of gold from the Eagle, Emu, Gold King and Golden Monarch deposits. This was based on the 2024 scoping study which assumed gold price of $3500/oz, well below the current Australian gold price above the $5100/oz mark. An updated scoping study is expected this month. While stage 1 is underway, WGR will also be able to simultaneously develop Stage 2 for potential extensions to the life of mine (LOM) such as Joyners Find and Bottom Camp. 'This marks a monumental leap forward for Western Gold Resources and with gold prices surging, all mining approvals in place and a preferred contractor selected, we are well positioned to accelerate our transition to a gold producer,' MD Cullum Winn said. The company isn't resting on its laurels either, with exploration planned at several brownfields targets including Joyners Find, Bottom Camp, Emu/Eagle Saddle and Gold King/Golden Monarch Saddle. At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Javelin Minerals, Star Minerals, Ausgold, Theta Gold Mines, Challenger Gold, West Wits Mining and Western Gold Resources
Time of India
13-07-2025
- Time of India
Europe's too hot, too crowded; Could this be the end of Australia's Mediterranean holiday dream?
Australians are turning away from the traditional July-August Mediterranean escape as heatwaves and overtourism reshape travel across Europe. For the first time, more Aussie travellers are choosing cooler, quieter months like April, May, and September, a shift travel companies say is happening far sooner than expected. Melbourne-based Intrepid Travel reports that 55 per cent of its Europe-bound customers now prefer the shoulder season over the peak summer stretch. Also Read: Obese and want to lose weight? Wegovy is not the long-term answer, according to leading weight loss surgeon by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like The Most Beautiful Women In The World Undo 'I thought we had five to ten years before this trend hit the mainstream, but climate change has accelerated everything,' said Brett Mitchell, the company's Australia and New Zealand managing director. Heatsopt on the tourist hotspot This summer, Europe has seen record-breaking heat. Spain hit 46°C in June, its hottest June on record. Portugal and France followed with similar highs, and England recorded its hottest June ever. Health warnings, wildfires, and even fatalities have raised concerns among tourists. Live Events UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently called the heat 'the new normal' and warned that no country is immune to the rising risks of climate change. In response, Intrepid Travel has cut certain summer itineraries altogether, especially active tours in southern Europe during July and August. Some experiences are being rescheduled to cooler times of day, such as evening walks on Dubrovnik's city walls in Croatia. Do overcrowded tourist spots lose their appeal? Yes, overcrowding may be another key reason Australians avoid the peak European summer. Destinations like Italy, Greece, and Croatia are struggling with overtourism. In some places, locals have taken to the streets in protest. Flight Centre also confirms that more Australians are opting for shoulder-season trips. 'We're seeing 'Euro Summer' stretch from May to late September,' said the company's global leisure CEO, James Kavanagh, to Northern Europe, including Finland, Norway, and Greenland, is also gaining popularity for its cooler climate and unique experiences. Booking trends The numbers show a clear shift. Intrepid Travel says bookings for Italy's peak season are down 72 per cent year-on-year, while off-season bookings have jumped 166 per cent. In Croatia, peak demand dropped by 19 per cent, with off-peak bookings up 179 per cent. Search data from shows interest in Paris, Athens, Lisbon, and Milan is now highest in September, a sign that travellers are adjusting their schedules to avoid the heat and the crowds. Could this end the Euro summer trip? Probably not in the near future, as tour operators are also adapting according to the new norm. Intrepid has introduced 'climate-resilient' itineraries, reduced reliance on flights in favour of trains, and added carbon labelling to 800 trips. The company recorded 151 climate-related incidents affecting its tours last year, twice as many as the year before. 'We're shifting away from over-saturated hotspots to quieter, lesser-known places,' Mitchell said. For example, Positano is being replaced by Minori on Italy's Amalfi Coast. On Croatia's coast, Hvar is giving way to the more peaceful Mljet Island.
