Tourism Australia is preparing to introduce a brand-new $40 million marketing ad campaign promoting the great marine and coastal experiences available around the nation in an attempt to much better contend against competing countries like the USA, France and South Africa to attract worldwide tourists.
The brand-new multi-platform campaign, that is to be launched early next year, is going to be funded on a similar level to the very successful Restaurant Australia ad campaign based around food and wine experiences introduced 18 months back. That campaign has currently improved spending on food and wine by near $700 million a year, which is 40 percent higher than the two-year target of $500 million. This has seen the likes of the yarra valley wine region in Victoria significantly boosted, with restaurants in Yarra Valley welcoming the extra business with open arms.
Tourist Australia managing director John O’Sullivan stated the water and seaside project, which coincides with a three-part documentary series with David Attenborough which is anticipated to air early next year in more than 130 nations, was developed to play to the country’s strengths. “It has strong appeal in our Western markets and our Eastern markets,” Mr O’Sullivan explained. “A large portion of these assets are in the regional parts of the country also, so it addresses the issue of dispersal (beyond Australia’s capital cities)”. Marketing materials for the project, which will consist of virtual reality and 360 mobile assets as well as a new broadcast ad and other print and digital materials, have actually been shot in places such as the 3 Capes Stroll in Tasmania, Rottnest Island in Western Australia and Katherine in the Northern Territory.
“The growth of the ad campaign has actually been created in unison with the states and territories,” Mr O’Sullivan stated. “They have assisted in choosing the places being shot and the assets created”. Australia’s seaside appeal may seem evident to locals, but Tourism Australia discovered there had actually been a 10 percent decline in Google keyword search for “the Great Barrier Reef” and “Australian beaches” throughout the USA, Singapore, United Kingdom, Japan and India in the 2013-14 financial year. In the meantime, competing destinations, like Hawaii, South Africa, the mainland US, and the south of France have actually been working hard to bring in travelers thinking about aquatic and seaside experiences.
“Like Restaurant Australia, we are wanting to move the dial in perception and recover that leading spot especially for those who haven’t checked out the nation,” Mr O’Sullivan said. Many global visitors already partake in seaside and marine experiences, however, the sorts selected differ by country. For instance, surfing, snorkeling and scuba diving have the tendency to be more popular with Westerners, whereas Chinese visitors may like to spend some time at a Yarra Valley vineyard if they are visiting Melbourne, go whale-watching or seeing the penguins at Phillip Island in Victoria. Mr O’Sullivan stated he was not worried about the campaign seeming too seasonal, since visitors might still swim in north Queensland during winter and could participate in coastal walks and whale seeing in colder weather condition as well.
The launch of this project will change the Restaurant Australia campaign, however, it might aim to connect the two together in some ways since seafood, for example, compliments the marine and seaside push. “We focused from 2010 when ‘There’s nothing like Australia’ was released on the broad qualities of the charm of the nation,” Mr O’Sullivan stated. “We are starting to develop various chapters of that”.
